


Postmortem

by Chihiro_Fujisaki



Category: Dangan Ronpa
Genre: After deaths, Confessions, Dangan Ronpa Spoilers, Drama, Friendship, Gen, Post-Dangan Ronpa, Reunions, Secrets, Tragedy, Truth
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-06
Updated: 2014-04-22
Packaged: 2017-12-25 19:17:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 24,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/956707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chihiro_Fujisaki/pseuds/Chihiro_Fujisaki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My name is Fujisaki Chihiro and I'm dead. I got k-killed during my years in high school, in this cursed place called Hope's Peak Academy. You'd think someone's story ends with their d-death, right? Well, my story doesn't - it even continues postmortem... and it's far from over.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. End of Episode 4

**Author's Note:**

> OOC Mukuro with a reason.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The afterlife isn't quite like what Chihiro imagined it to be.

_Love is giving someone the power to destroy you... But trusting them not to._

# »̶✽«̶

I don't know how I'm doing it, but I'm flying.

I'm free, I'm flying, into the air. I don't know how I manage it, but maybe it's because I'm in Hope's Peak that I can do stuff like this. After all, Hope's Peak Academy isn't your average high school. This is a school where extraordinary things can happen, and where tables can get turned in just a few seconds.

Hovering a few meters above the ground, I look down out of curiosity and end up regretting it.

Is that me...?

Wh-what am I doing lying down there when I'm way up here...?

Oh, wait a second. What's that red stuff on my hair and jacket? It's staining my green jacket with red patches, ugh. Now I have more cleaning-up to do...

Oh gosh, there's red stuff on my forehead too. What's it doing there? I wonder what it is and why I'm covered with it? Did I fall asleep in my spaghetti or something? And why am I asleep in the boys' changing room...?

That's when I see it.

The dumbbell. It's got the same red stuff on it, too.

And him.

The person.

He's on his knees, bent next to the motionless me, although it's impossible for me to see his expression because he's bent over. But I do recognize the trademark hair.

N-no, I gasp inwardly. It can't be that. P-please let it not be that. But it's no use, everything comes back to me like a flash of lightning.

The promise, the midnight workout, the secret, the changing room, the dumbbell, him.

"N-n-no," I gasp, but that's it, I can't reject the painful truth. It's been done, it can't be reversed, I'm who I am now.

And I'm now dead.

...

I know there's nothing left to do here, but still I stand for a few minutes with my hands covering my mouth.

Oh my God, that's me. Or rather, my lifeless body - powerless, worthless, cold, and limp.

That's it.

That physical body will be of no more use to anyone now. Everything's over, my life is officially over.

There's nothing left to do here.

Leaving him with his regrets, I fly through the ceiling of Hope's Peak Academy and out of the school into the sun. I blink and shade my eyes against it - it's been a long time since I've been exposed to sunlight.

Maybe too long...?

Suddenly my head begins to swim and the world spins before my eyes. I put a hand to my forehead. Nightmares of my past are coming back, my past which was hardly ever touched by sunlight because of that silly illness I had.

And, before I can even wonder if it was possible because I'm dead, I black out.

# »̶✽«̶

When I come to, I find myself lying in a long and dark corridor. As far as I can see, I'm alone. I gingerly get up to my feet, adjust my skirt, and clasp my hands in front of me. I'm cold and alone and scared.

"H-hello...?" I whisper into the gloom. "I-is anybody th-th-there?"

No response. I really am alone.

That's when I see the light at the end of the tunnel. And... Is that a door...?

I know that I can't possibly stay here, so I walk to the end of the tunnel. I'll see where the door leads to. Upon reaching it, I put my hand on the doorknob, take a deep breath, and open it, knowing that I have no idea who or what lies behind.

...

"Well, well, well! If it isn't the little cutie."

The room behind the door at the end of the tunnel so closely resembles a classroom that I completely ignore the voice that greets me. This room is a classroom - it's complete with desks, chairs, lockers, and even a blackboard.

"Hello, Fujisaki-san!"

"Yo, Fujisaki!"

I tear my eyes away from the room interior and focus on the three people sitting in the room.

Three very familiar people.

My mouth hangs open. "M-Maizono-san?! K-kuwata-kun? Enoshima-san?"

The strawberry blond girl leans back in her chair. "Uh, calling me Enoshima-san was okay back at that school... But since we're out of it, call me Mukuro, yeah? I'm Mukuro Ikusaba, Super High School Level Soldier and Junko's sister." She rolls her eyes. "Of course, not like it matters anymore! Welcome to the Dead Students Society. You're one of us now."

She suddenly pulls at her hair and it comes off.

"A-ah!" I gasp.

"Don't worry, it's just a wig," Mukuro tells me as I stare at her. Her hair is actually very different - it is short and black.

Meanwhile, Maizono-san and Kuwata-kun are chatting to each other. I think it's weird, since Kuwata-kun turned out to be the one who had killed Maizono-san, but now they're talking as if they're friends.

They pause from their conversation to greet me.

"Hi, Fujisaki-san!" Maizono gives me a friendly smile, waving. Kuwata turns around and grins. "Yo! Fujisaki!"

I go over to their table. "H-hello...! Maizono-san and Kuwata-kun! How... How are you?"

"Mm..." Kuwata rubs his fiery red goatee, "It's a bit weird being dead an' all, but yeah! I'm totally fine!"

"Me too." Maizono smiles. "I'm glad I'm at least not alone!"

"So... Um... Everything's okay w-with the both of you...?" I cover my mouth with my hand right after, knowing I shouldn't have brought up the subject of Kuwata killing Maizono.

Maizono pats my hand reassuringly, then takes Kuwata's in her other hand. "Don't worry, Fujisaki-san, we're all okay now." She smiles at Kuwata, who unconsciously runs a hand through his hair with something reminiscent of a blush passing across his cheeks.

Interesting.

"O-okay. I'm glad!" I smile at them, and then return to Mukuro.

Mukuro offers me the chair next to her. "So, what're you in for, little Chihiro?"

"Huh?" I don't quite get what she means.

"You know... What happened? Were you murdered?"

"O-oh..." I look down at my lap, my last moments in Hope's Peak flooding back to me like a broken dam.

Love is giving someone the power to destroy you... But trusting them not to.

I was wrong for trusting him. I was wrong, wrong, wrong. I was wrong when I thought he wouldn't freak out when I told him my secret. I did something wrong, and I certainly paid the price for it.

...It turns out that Mukuro has been staring at me, waiting for me to say something. "You okay?" she asks with a frown.

"Y-yes!" I exclaim. "I-I'm sorry Ikusaba-san! I didn't mean to ignore you!"

"Hey, don't be sorry," she says quickly. "It's not your fault. I probably shouldn't have asked it anyway - you might not want to talk about it."

"O-okay... Sorry..." I sniffle.

"Hey, hey, stop it!" She grins at me and puts a hand on my shoulder. "Don't be sad, okay? Whenever you feel let down, remember that you've got Kuwata, Sayaka, and me! We're all in this society together."

"Okay," I say, forcing a smile.


	2. End of Episode 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chihiro meets _him_ for the first time since death.

_Forgive, forget, and smile._

# »̶✽«̶

Mukuro tells us her secret on the second day. She was helping her sister Junko, the real Junko Enoshima, who is actually Super High School Level Despair. Junko has been planning all this for the sole reason of seeing people despair, which she takes pleasure in. Mukuro was supposed to dress as her and pretend to play along in that game of life and death. However, Junko as Monobear had attacked and killed her, which Mukuro was sure wasn’t in the original plan.

My secret is also out by the second day. I remember what Mukuro told me yesterday – that nothing matters anymore here. After all, we’re all dead.

Everyone is surprised when they hear that I’m not a girl.

“For real?” Mukuro’s and Kuwata’s eyes are wide. Maizono puts her hand in front of her mouth.

“Yeah...” I admit, looking down. “I know... I-I’m very weak, aren’t I?”

“No you’re not, Fujisaki-san,” Maizono speaks up, putting an arm around me. “In fact, it’s quite the opposite – I think you’re so brave to finally decide to tell us a secret you’ve kept for so long. I... I’m proud of you.”

“Oi, accepting your weaknesses takes courage, you know,” Kuwata said. “So I agree with Maizono.”

“And I agree with the both of them,” said Mukuro. “You’re brave despite your cute looks, Chihiro. That’s some kind of awesome.”

“Really?” I beam at them. “Wow... thanks!” I look down again, debating whether or not I should tell them about him, since thinking about him certainly “lets me down”, like how Mukuro had put it.

N-nothing matters anymore, right?

I fiddle with my fingers. “Th-there’s actually something else I want to tell you. It’s about wh-why I’m here.”

I tell them.

That’s how they know what he did so that I ended up here. Their eyes stare at me as I look down at my lap, looks of dismay on their faces after knowing that who did it was someone I’d really looked up to.

 

I spend the day programming. Yes, there are computers here. At least it’s something I can do to distract myself.

Then, sometime at night, Mukuro runs in through the door that leads back into the dark tunnel. “Hey, someone else’s coming!” she shouts.

Our expressions become those of dismay. That means someone else is dead.

“Oh, no! I wonder who it is,” Maizono groans.

Mukuro glances somewhat uncomfortably in my direction. “Oh, you’ll see who it is soon enough.” She clears her throat.

...I wonder what’s going on.

I find out when the door opens, and that’s when I see him.

Oowada Mondo-kun, the person who killed me.

Maizono, Kuwata, and Mukuro all greet him rather enthusiastically, welcoming him to the Dead Students Society. However, I stay where I am, my head down in front of my computer screen. It’s when I notice water on the screen that I realize that I’m crying.

He’s dead, obviously after the Class Trial for my murder. He’d obviously been voted guilty.

He’s dead. This is my fault.

“Hey kid.”

At that exact moment, Maizono strategically pulls Mukuro and Kuwata out of the room. Now it’s just me and Mondo-kun. He’s walking towards my corner of the classroom, where I’m sitting in front of my computer. However, I don’t respond and keep typing away.

He finally reaches my table, and although I don’t turn to look at him, he starts speaking.

“Chihiro... I...”

There’s a pause.

“I’m sorry. Ya don’t know how fuckin’ sorry I am for... doing that. I’m really really sorry.”

Tap, tap, tap goes my keyboard.

He sighs. “I understand if ya hate me now. I understand if ya don’t and won’t forgive me - if that’s the case then I’ll just have to carry this burden of knowing that I’ve lost someone I hold dear. I’m perfectly fine if ya don’t forgive me, I’ll never forgive myself for having hurt ya, Chihiro. Damn, I was supposed to protect ya, and I failed with flying colors at it. So I’m sorry, I really am.”

Another pause, filled with only the monotonous tapping of the keyboard.

Mondo brings a hand up to his head, rubbing his trademark pompadour. “Well, I guess that’s all. I just want ya to know that I know I’m a jerk who deserves what he got, but know that whatever happens, I’ll still love ya like a little bro.” Then he starts to walk away.

“Oh yeah... Chihiro.” He stops but doesn’t turn around.

I stop typing to swipe at the tears gathering at the corner of my eyes and stare ahead.

“There’s another thing I want ya to know. Your secret’s still safe with me, kid.”

“What secret?” I finally say something.

“The secret ya told me that night.”

“Oh. You mean that I’m a b-b-boy. Was.” I began to type again, furiously.

“Yeah, that one. I just want to tell ya that up to the last moments of my life, I didn’t tell it to anyone else. I was the only soul in that damned school to know it, except maybe that fucker Monobear. That was why I swapped the crime scene.”

My hands freeze above the keyboard. “You wh-what?”

“I swapped the crime scene,” he says. “It happened in the boys’ changing room, remember. But I thought that if the others found ya there, they’d ask questions such as how a girl could have entered the boys’ changing room, and guys like Togami and Kirigiri were sure to come up with near-truth theories. So I rolled up the poster on the wall and the carpet, and switched them with the ones in the girls’ changing room.”

“Wait. H-how did you g-get into the girls’ changing room anyway?!”

“I borrowed Maizono’s student ID, which was in the main entrance foyer,” he replies. “I went into the girls’ changing room and set everything up. Then I went back and carried ya into the girls’ room. So if the others found ya, there’d be no weird questions asked.”

I’m silent.

“...And to get rid of further evidence, I took your student ID and destroyed it in the sauna so the others won’t know your real gender. If I got found out, I would at least bring your secret to the grave. If they did find out in the end, and to my fuckin’ agony they really did, it wouldn’t be because I broke my promise. That’s it. I just want ya to know that I never broke my promise, I never told any other soul about your secret. Heck, I’ll die before I’ll ever break any promises made between men.”

Then he starts to walk away.

I take my hands off my keyboard so I can use them to wipe my tears freely. By now I’m crying pathetically, tears running down my face in streams. So much for wanting to be strong.

I’m only half aware of an arm suddenly circling around me and drawing me to warmth. Someone is hugging me and keeping me close, protecting me in their arms, giving me warmth. That someone strokes my hair and tells me soothing words. Then something wet falls onto my cheek... but it isn’t one of my own tears. That someone is crying.

And that someone is Mondo-kun.

I put my arms around him and sob into his shirt. “M-m-mondo-kun, I’m s-s-sorry!” I wail, my stammer getting worse. “I’m sorry for g-getting you executed! This is all m-m-my fault!”

“Hey, hey,” he says gently, still stroking my hair, still crying. “D-don’t apologize, kid. None of this is your fault, okay? I’m the jerk who’s sorry.”

“You’re n-n-not a j-j-jerk...!”

“Whatever I am, I’m sorry, okay? Please forgive me Chihiro. You’re one of the best comrades I’ve ever had.”

I sniffle and smile at him. “And y-y-you are too. Mondo-kun, I forgive you, because I l-l-love you like a big brother.” I give him a watery chuckle. “H-hey, you’re crying...!”

He laughs and swipes at his eyes. “Well, yeah, kid, even gang leaders need a good cry once in a while.”


	3. End of Episode 6, Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chihiro and Mondo talk about a dear friend from whom they have been separated.

_Missing someone and not being able to see them is the worst feeling ever._

# »̶✽«̶

"Man, I'm bored as fuck."

It's my third day being dead. I'm back typing on my computer (by this time I've downloaded enough computer games to keep me occupied); Maizono and Kuwata are going for a monotonous walk in the tunnel; Mukuro is asleep with her head on the table; and Mondo is sitting next to me complaining about how bored he is.

"I wish there were motorbikes and paved roads here," he complains. "But fuck no, the place where we go after we die has to be a long dark tunnel and a fuckin' classroom."

I smile at him. "U-um, Mondo-kun, I've got some computer games in my laptop. W-want to play together or something?"

"All right kiddo," he finally agrees. "But won't we need two computers?"

"Yeah, but they've got more here!" I say. "I saw quite a lot when I looked for one. At least there are a lot of computers here, maybe to make up for the roads and motorbikes!"

I quickly find another computer. "What do you want to play, Mondo-kun?"

"Eh?" He looks up. "Up to ya, kid."

"Okay then." I quickly bring up a shooting game onto the screen. Mondo goes over and looks over my shoulder. He snickers. "Ya wanna play a shooting game? All right, but don't cry if ya lose, okay?"

"Me? Lose?" I grin. "Hmm, we'll see about that!"

...That grin gets wiped off his face really fast when I win.

Mondo looks incredulous. "Wait... That move just then! That shit wasn't supposed to happen! It was impos-" That's when he sees me trying to hold back laughter.

He sneers and ruffles my hair. "Ah, cheeky little programmer-san! Ya did something funny with the program, didn't ya?"

"Hehehe!" I chuckle, blushing. "Sorry, Mondo-kun, but I thought it'd be fun to play a prank on you!"

"Pfffff," he holds back his laughter. "If Ishimaru were here, he certainly would've told you that it was against the school rules to cheat."

"Yeah." I smile, and it freezes on my face.

_Ishimaru-kun._

"M-m-mondo-kun...?" I stammer, the previous smile getting wiped off my face really fast.

"Yeah?"

"Is... Is Ishimaru-kun okay? Wh-what happened to him when he saw..."

His mouth turns into one hard line. "When he saw... you-know-what. I... I actually saw his reaction before..." His voice trails off. "Before... You-know-what. Before I found myself in that long tunnel."

"Is... Is he okay?" I whisper.

"Umm..." He hesitates.

I look down at my hands. "He isn't, is he? Oh, that I-Ishimaru-kun. He was so attached to you, Mondo-kun, he kept calling you "kyoudai" and- and- Oh, and now h-he's alone! Uu..."

"Sshh." He pulls me close and strokes my hair gently. "It's true that he was so close to me - to us - but remember kid, he's got a heck of a burning spirit." He smiles wanly. "Remember the sauna battle?"

"Y-yeah." Naegi told me about it. I smile, imagining Mondo and Ishimaru in the sauna with determined faces as a dumbstruck Naegi watched from outside.

"Well, that's how determined and "on fire" Kyoudai can become when he's feeling like it. He's a good kid, Chihiro. Ya don't need to worry. I'm sure he'll be all right. After all, he's our bro."

"Y-yeah, I shouldn't probably worry about h-him." I smile at Mondo-kun. "He's a v-very strong and strict person. I remember when we first came to Hope's Peak. Ishimaru-kun reprimanded Naegi-kun because he was a few minutes late."

"Yeah." Mondo rolls his eyes. "To tell you the truth, I thought I wouldn't like the kid. He's always gabbing about tardiness and fuck. And of course there's that thing with Togami in the library..."

I remember the incident in which I couldn't help myself but blurt out that we weren't supposed to be doing any of this, we weren't supposed to kill, the Maizono-Kuwata incident wasn't supposed to happen. Then Togami-kun had pointed out that I was also responsible for Kuwata's death because I voted him guilty, so I was indirectly responsible for the death of a classmate too. Asahina-san had protested that if we didn't do it, we would have been the ones executed, but the damage had already been done. I broke down pathetically in front of everyone, tears running down my face. I was embarrassed and hid my face behind my hands, but I knew it still made me look like the weakest weakling ever.

However, Mondo-kun had jumped to my defense and snapped at Togami. Togami's next comment only made Mondo angrier, and Mondo lashed out at Togami as if he was about to attack him.

Ishimaru-kun, forever the law enforcer, jumped between Togami and Mondo, but Mondo pushed him until he fell. That did not fix things between the two of them.

"I have to admit that while he's sometimes annoying, he's a tough kid," Mondo says. I catch a little bit of sadness in his tone. "I have to admire his guts. Imagine that - jumping in front of a raging gang leader. Ya don't see normal people do that."

"But then, of course, there's the sauna battle," I add. "And that's when you two become brothers."

"Yeah." Mondo smiles ruefully.

I smile when I recall the next breakfast session. Naegi-kun had looked dumbstruck when he saw Mondo and Ishimaru laughing together and clapping their hands on the other's back.

"What happened to them?" he had asked Asahina-san. "Dunno, they've been weird since morning," she had replied with a shrug.

And since then, they had been as close as brothers.

At least, until this.

My voice wavers when I speak again. "...H-he'll make it, right?"

"Yes," he says, giving me a comforting hug. "He'll make it. I _sure hope_ he makes it."

# »̶✽«

Kuwata and Maizono return from their walk sometime later. Mondo waves at them. "Oi, Kuwata! Wanna play a shooting game?"

Kuwata grins and, excusing himself from Maizono who sits down next to Mukuro, walks over to us. "Yeah, man! That sounds awesome!"

"Okay then. You play against Chihiro, yeah? I ain't playin'." Mondo puts his hands behind his head and leans back in his chair, smirking.

Kuwata looks down at me, and I'm almost positive I see an expression of amusement on his face. "Me, play against Fujisaki? Well, fine, but don't cry if you lose, yeah?"

"Hmm. Me? Lose?" I smile sweetly at him. "We'll see about that."

...

I win. Again.

"Whaaa...?!" Kuwata's eyes bulge as he stares at the screen. "What the heck just happened, man? That wasn't supposed to happen! That move just then was practically impossible!"

This time, it's Mondo who can't hold back his laughter. Kuwata looks at him with confusion before turning to look at me and seeing more or less the same expression on my face.

"You little cheat!" he laughs when it finally dawns on him. "You messed around with the game, didn't you?!"

"Hehehe, yeah," I giggle. "Sorry you lost, Kuwata-kun!"

"And you." Kuwata looks at Mondo with a smile. "You were in cahoots with Fujisaki from the beginning, weren't you?"

"Heck yeah," Mondo laughs. "I wanna see ya lose to the kiddo, man. That's what ya get when ya play computer games against a first-class programmer." At that, I blush.

Kuwata rolls his eyes. "Fine," he gives in laughingly. "You win. You both win. Happy now?"

I chuckle. "Sorry I made you lose, Kuwata-kun. Ishimaru-kun would have called it cheating. We can start the game again if you want, and this time I won't do anything funny!"

"Nah, it's all right man," Kuwata says. "I was just pulling your leg anyway - I'm rubbish at shooting games. But c'mere, you naughty little..."

I laugh and run over to him. He playfully puts me in a headlock, saying, "This is what happens to people who cheat!"

"Ahahaha!" I wail helplessly. "Th-that tickles!"

Then someone joins in and ruffles my hair. I look up and see Mondo-kun, sort of mashing us into a messy group hug-slash-brawl. He jokingly punches Kuwata's chin.

"Oi, stop it man!" Kuwata laughs. "You're ruining my goatee!"

_...Click!_

We look up to see a victorious Mukuro standing in front of us. She lowers the camera she's holding and looks at the screen while holding back her laughter.

"Oi... What'd you just do?" Mondo bursts out.

"Pfff...hahahaha!" she can't hold back her laughter and finally explodes. "Sorry, guys, but that was so priceless in a cute way that I just had to take a picture of it. You look as best friends as Super Mario Bros. or something."

"Hey! Where'd you find that camera, anyway?" Kuwata exclaims, quickly tidying his goatee.

"Somewhere in this classroom." Mukuro shrugs. "It's not important! The thing is, now I can photograph whatever I find worth photographing. Hey Kuwata-" - she snickers - "Want me to take a photo of you and Sayaka?"

Kuwata grimaces, but his cheeks get red. He runs a hand through his equally red hair. "...Aww man. Why did you have to find a damn camera..."

Instead of answering, Mukuro only grins. "Say cheese."

# »̶✽«

Despite the relatively fun afternoon I had, that night my thoughts are anywhere but here.

Although Maizono, Kuwata, and Mukuro are chatting nearby, I feel like I'm zoning out, as if I'm in a universe of my own. Mondo, meanwhile, really _is_ in a universe of his own - he has excused himself to go for a walk alone in the darkness of the tunnel.

And somehow I know he and I are thinking the same thing.

_Ishimaru-kun._

My fears are back, and whatever Mondo-kun has said can't wipe it away. After all, Mondo-kun and I are here. Ishimaru-kun isn't here - in fact, he's far, far away. He's trapped in a cursed school with an evil stuffed bear, and although I've left Alter Ego behind for the others in case I didn't make it, I don't feel assured at all.

I wish Ishimaru-kun was here, and then we would be a foursome: me, Mondo-kun, Ishimaru-kun, and Kuwata-kun. Then we'd be even better friends than the Super Mario Bros.

I clench my fists when I realize what I've just wished for. If Ishimaru-kun joins us here, that means he has to die first, and that's the last thing I want.

I sigh. What a difficult situation - if Ishimaru doesn't die, he'll be enduring the Hope's Peak life without his kyoudai for who knows how long. But if he dies...

I can't even bring myself to finish the thought.

But in the end, I know that the best for all of us would be to keep things as it is. Sure, it hurts a lot that Mondo-kun and I won't be seeing Ishimaru-kun anytime in the near future, but at least he will finally get to resume normal life outside the school. That would be the best for him.

My fingers pause over the keyboard when I realize something else. I'm down in the dumps like this, but I can't even begin to imagine how Mondo-kun must feel. I mean, he and Ishimaru-kun were brothers - like Mario and Luigi, while I think I have the role of Toad in that friendship - not quite center stage.

Yes, you can have Mario and Luigi without Toad and still not look like there's anything missing. But then I try to imagine Mario without Luigi, or Luigi without Mario.

It just doesn't seem right.

 _The friendship between men is thicker than blood,_ Ishimaru-kun said.

 _Ya got that right, Kyoudai,_ Mondo-kun said.

 _Poor Mondo-kun and Ishimaru-kun,_ I think sadly.

_Missing someone and not being able to see them is the worst feeling ever._


	4. End of Episode 6, Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two more members join the Dead Students Society; three best friends finally reunited.

_"The sun goes down; I feel the light betray me."_ (Linkin Park • Papercut)

# »̶✽«̶

It's midnight. I can see the moon through the window, above the trees and shrubbery lining the ground (yes, outside this classroom it's apparently green plains). I feel puzzled, and also as though the trees and shrubs are taunting me. There is something outside, yet we see no exit from the building we're in. There's just the long dark tunnel that leads to even emptier darkness, and this classroom. Although there aren't any steel plates covering the windows, I suddenly feel a pang of déja vu.

_Are we trapped here as well?_

Despite the others who are sleeping (I'm the only one awake right now), I allow myself an actually soft groan that nevertheless reverberates in the silent classroom.

 _Don't tell me this is another Hope's Peak Academy,_ I think. _Don't tell me we still can't get out, even after death._

Postmortem Hope's Peak.

Nice.

I myself have to admit that I'm a selfless person, so instead of thinking about myself, I find myself thinking about someone else. My thoughts go back the the topic Mondo-kun and I talked about this afternoon.

In that case, it's a good thing Ishimaru-kun doesn't join us here. Imagine that - being dead AND stuck in a classroom. At least by being in the real Hope's Peak, Ishimaru-kun is still alive, right?

 _Right,_ I answer myself, turning back to my laptop to stare at the screen clock. _That's right, Chihiro. Ishimaru-kun isn't here, he won't come here, not in a long time anyway, and it's the best for everyone._

But it's ten minutes after midnight when I suddenly hear that voice.

...

"Oh, look here. We're now stuck in an unknown place, and it's dark and cold and you've separated me from my angel. ( _Huffs_ ) Thank you for nothing."

The first voice I hear is drawling, sarcasm is dropping from every word.

"What the heck are you talking about? Why are you calling Kyoudai your "angel"? He isn't anyone's angel but mine, do you get that?"

" _Your kyoudai?!_ Your kyoudai, is it? She isn't your Kyoudai, she is my angel, whom you've stolen from me rather rudely, don't you think? I mean, _come on._ You stole her, didn't you? You stole her and hid her so she and I couldn't be together again. You can't shy away from what you've done, only a masochist would dig his own grave, Ishimaru Kiyotaka-dono!"

Ishimaru Kiyotaka-dono?!

The next moment I have no control whatsoever over my body, and I run like crazy out of the classroom and into the darkness of the tunnel. However dark it is, I can still see someone with a flashy tie and someone else wearing a white uniform that stands out against the darkness.

My thoughts are in a haphazard whirl as my feet pound against the floor.

_He died._

I don't know whether to feel happy or sad.

As I get nearer, I shout out to the two standing in the tunnel. "YAMADA-KUN!" I cry out, but it's the owner of the second voice that makes me really excited. "...ISHIMARU-KUN!" At that moment, I don't care that my voice might wake the people sleeping in the classroom. "I c-c-can't believe you're here...!"

The two people look up as I screech to a halt beside them. Yamada-kun looks rather pleased to see me. "Fujisaki Chihiro-dono!" he exclaims. "Thank God I'm not the only sane one here!"

But strangely, Ishimaru-kun just looks straight at me, and that's also when I realize that there's something weird about him. His hair isn't black, it's almost a shiny shade of white or gray, and I'm positive I can see fire leap out of his eyes, which also have taken a shiny sheen to them.

Without even a "hello" or a "pleased to see you again", he instead asks out of the blue, "FUJISAKI-KUN HAVE YOU SEEN KYOUDAI?" as if meeting your friends again after death is something that's guaranteed to happen.

I'm quite taken aback. "M-m-mondo-kun? He's all right, he's over there asleep... But, Ishimaru-kun, a-are you all right? You look... kind of d-different..."

To my surprise, he suddenly explodes. "WHO THE HECK IS THIS ISHIMARU-KUN EVERYONE SPEAKS OF? YAMADA-KUN SPOKE OF A PERSON NAMED KIYOTAKA ISHIMARU. FUJISAKI-KUN SPOKE OF AN ISHIMARU-KUN. YET I'M NOT THE ISHIMARU THEY'RE REFERRING TO."

I blink. "Of course you're the Kiyotaka Ishimaru we're talking about! Whoever else c-could it be?"

"FUJISAKI-KUN, I AM NOT KIYOTAKA ISHIMARU!" He practically blows up. "WHY IN HELL DOES EVERYONE KEEP MISTAKING ME FOR THIS KIYOTAKA ISHIMARU PERSON? I AM NOT KIYOTAKA ISHIMARU, FOR MY NAME IS FREAKIN' KIYOTAKA ISHIDA!"

I gasp and involuntarily step back. I get really nervous whenever I get yelled at. Mondo-kun has accidentally yelled at me before, and quite embarrassingly, I burst into tears.

"Now you see why I said he wasn't sane," Yamada grumbles under his breath sarcastically.

"Wh-what h-happened to him?" I stammer. This is not the Ishimaru-kun I remember. Not in the least bit.

"Well, that's got to do with why we're here," Yamada drawls.

"Wh-what's that? Wh-why are you two here, Yamada-kun?"

"It's basically all his fault," he says. "He did a stupid thing and now we're both dead."

"Okay, but what is it that he did?" I sigh. "Can you please tell me what happened from the beginning, Yamada-kun?"

"Well, there's this girl I like." His cheeks get pink and flushed.

I blink. "A g-girl you like? But I thought you said you only liked 2D girls, Yamada-kun...?"

"THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT!" he bursts out with impatience. "Don't you see, she was a 2D girl! And unlike any other girl I've met, she didn't run away or get uninterested whenever I talked about my obsession. That's a first for me!"

 _2D girl...?_ By the time he was done talking, a funny feeling has developed in my gut. _D-don't tell me..._

"Wh-what exactly does she look like, Yamada-kun? Can you describe her?" I ask cautiously.

"Of course I can, she's the love of my life," he sighs. "She stays in a computer... A light green one if I remember correctly. And come to think of it, she looks a whole lot like you, Fujisaki-dono! Yes, a whole lot!"

That confirms it. If that is even possible, Yamada-kun is in love with Alter Ego. My Alter Ego, the computer program I've left behind to help the others escape. This is a development I haven't counted on.

"Okay. And what does that have to do with Ishimaru-kun?"

"IT'S GOT A LOT TO DO WITH ISHIMARU-DONO!" he exclaims, suddenly getting excited. "One night, I spent my time with my angel, talking about manga. She was the sweetest - instead of getting bored, she asked me to talk more about my obsessions."

The feeling in my gut is back. _That's because Alter Ego is a learning program,_ I think. I've programmed it to be as curious as a little kid in order to collect as much data as possible. Again, another development I haven't counted on.

"The next morning, Kirigiri-dono caught me using the computer without permission. I was talking to Naegi-dono when suddenly he came in and started talking about how I shouldn't have talked to her without permission because "it housed the soul of his kyoudai". I mean, come on, just because it showed a sprite of Oowada-dono's head doesn't mean that his kyoudai's soul was in it or anything of the sort! In short, he completely overreacted the second he saw that sprite, and he hasn't been himself since. Then things just got out of control - we both wanted the computer."

Of course. I have given Alter Ego the ability to change its sprite into anyone's head, not just mine and Mondo-kun. I also gave it enough data to respond to questions like how he or she would have answered it. Yamada's words are giving me the shivers. I swallow. _We both wanted the computer._ "And th-then what?"

"One day, Celestia-dono came to me," he continues. "She said that Ishimaru-dono had stolen the little angel and that he even did bad things to her to keep her quiet."

_We both wanted the computer. Ishimaru-kun did bad things._

"...And the rest just unfolded as if you were reading a manga." He clears his throat, suddenly not eager to continue his story. "Someone used our argument to their advantage and- Ugh, it just went haywire from there."

I nod. However much I want it all to be untrue, and although I still can't believe Ishimaru-kun would do "bad things" to Celes-san, one thing is for sure. Yamada-kun and Ishimaru-kun are here because they fought over Alter Ego. _They fought over something I created._

I gulp, suddenly feeling a huge wave of tears coming on.

_Their deaths are my fault._

I bite my lip as I turn to look at Ishimaru-kun.

Even worse, Ishimaru-kun isn't Ishimaru-kun anymore. He's freakin' Kiyotaka Ishida.

...

I'm drowning in sadness when Yamada and I suddenly hear a voice come from the end of the tunnel.

"'Ey, what's going on there? Chihiro, aren't you sleep-" The voice stops abruptly, then starts again in a hush.

"Wait... I-is th-that you, Kyoudai...?"

...

...

The change is instant. The shiny hair turns black again. The eyes go back to their original red color, and the fire seems to have been doused.

Ishida - no, I'm sure it's Ishimaru this time - turns around. I see tears gather at the corner of his eyes when he sees Mondo-kun at the end of the tunnel.

"K-k-kyoudai...?" he whispers.

"Kyoudai, I can't believe you're here," Mondo grunts. "C-c-c'mere!" He spreads his arms.

"Y-YES KYOUDAI! I AM HERE! LET US EMBRACE LIKE MEN!" Ishimaru exclaims tearfully, and then he simply runs the whole length of the tunnel towards him, and finally into his arms.

That was some abrupt development, but nevertheless I smile. Finally, Mario and Luigi are together again.

Meanwhile, beside me, Yamada-kun grumbles under his breath. "Now I swear we're in a manga," he says.

...

When I run over to them, they have let each other go. Ishimaru is holding Mondo at arm's length, giving him an up-and-down look. "Kyoudai... You are all right! You are n-n-not b-b-butter or a-anything!"

"Fuck no I'm not," Mondo says reassuringly. "Ya don't have to worry."

But then, Ishimaru's grip gets tight like an iron vice.

"Kyoudai, I want to hold you responsible," he says sternly, obviously in Hall Monitor Mode. "However much I like you like a brother, it cannot be evaded that you have killed a fellow classmate. Have you apologized to Fujisaki-kun?"

"'Ey! Ya don't have to be all cop-like with me or anything," Mondo protests in surprise at his sudden change in emotion. "I've got everything under control."

" _ANSWER ME,_ " Ishimaru only explodes, shaking his shoulders. "Have you apologized to him or not?!"

I arrive at the scene just in time. "Ishimaru-kun, it's all right!" I exclaim, putting a hand on his stiff arm. "It's t-t-true! M-mondo-kun has said sorry!"

"Yeah! Everything's fine now," Mondo adds.

Ishimaru's grip relaxes. "Ah... Is that so?"

"Yeah. So we all good now?" Mondo wraps the both of us into a hug.

"Yeah." I grin.

"OF COURSE." Slowly but surely, Ishimaru's face finally breaks into a smile. "WE ARE ALL GOOD."

# »̶✽«̶

"Welcome to the Dead Students Society and blah blah blah. I'm not Enoshima, that's my sister, she's the mastermind, I'm Ikusaba Mukuro, and I'm the Super High School Level Soldier."

When we go into the classroom, everyone is up. Maizono and Kuwata are once more chatting about music, and Mukuro is standing. Everyone turns to us the moment we go in through the door, and upon seeing that there are two new members to the society, Mukuro has launched into a rather sleazy welcome.

"Yamada-kun! Ishimaru-kun!" Maizono exclaims once the newcomers have calmed down after Mukuro's revelation. "You're here!"

"Does that mean someone out there's killed two people?" Kuwata's eyes bulge.

Ishimaru frowns. "I cannot say for sure!" he says. "Whoever it was struck me from behind! I went out like a light before I could see who it was!"

Kuwata turns to Yamada, who goes a deep shade of red and sulks, "I don't want to talk about it." Everyone knows better than to probe deeper into it. We all know Yamada-kun can be very difficult when he's sulking.

"Speaking of being dead," Ishimaru continues, "I saw Naegi-kun in the tunnel earlier in the night."

"WHAT?" Maizono's face goes deathly pale. "Naegi-kun is D-D-DEAD?!"

"N-n-naegi-kun is d-d-dead?!" I echo. He was exactly the main protagonist sort of person that I didn't think it was possible.

"How come I didn't see Naegi-dono? I was also in the tunnel," Yamada says skeptically.

"I came to the tunnel before you did, Yamada-kun," Ishimaru points out. "But he had already disappeared before Yamada-kun came here."

"Disappeared? How is that possible?" Maizono asks blankly. "Once you're dead, you're dead for the whole of eternity... right?"

"That only means one thing: he isn't dead yet," Mukuro replies. "There has to be another explanation as to why he's here. Is it possible that he has the ability to visit the other side temporarily? Like a psychic power or something? Maizono-san?"

Maizono blushes. "H-hey, don't look at me!" she protests. "I don't really have ESP or anything of the sort. It's just intuition."

"Maybe it's true," Yamada bursts out. "Maybe Naegi-dono really is a psychic!"

Mukuro nods and sits down. "That'd explain why he was here but then disappeared... Which means that there is a possibility of him returning." She suddenly lowers her voice. "And speaking of when he should return..."

She looks at all of us one by one. "When that happens, I want you to call me Junko Enoshima in front of him. Treat me like you did Junko. Pretend as if I really was Junko."

"But why?" Kuwata bursts out. "Wouldn't telling Naegi the truth give him a clue about the mastermind, so they can escape more easily?"

"Exactly," Mukuro surprises us. "And that is exactly what I'm trying to avoid. What _my sister_ is trying to avoid. I was given a task by my sister. I must not fail."

"But does that still matter?" Mondo says. "I mean, we're dead. Nothing matters anymore."

I catch the hidden meaning behind Mondo's words.

_Hasn't Ikusaba-san already failed?_

He goes on, "Besides, wasn't your sister the one who killed ya? As Monobear, I mean."

Mukuro's mouth forms one tight line. She seems to take on a radically different personality than the one she has been showing us.

"I love my sister," is all she says.

# »✽«

Mukuro's prediction is proven right when we meet Naegi-kun quite a while later. It's Yamada who met him first, in the tunnel outside the classroom. Yamada freaked out first, of course, but then he collected his wits about him enough to invite Naegi into the classroom, saying that we had been expecting him.

When I first see Naegi-kun, the first thought that comes to mind is that he's a ghost. He's translucent - you can see through him.

Kuwata echoes my thoughts exactly. "...You're a ghost, man."

"Maybe it's because you came from a different dimension," Maizono ventures. "From the other side. Is it possible? I mean, in the real world, we see ghosts as usually translucent - but now it's the other way around?"

"You could be right, Maizono-san," Naegi says. He's now sitting next to Maizono and is surrounded by the rest of us dead students. I mean, at the moment he is our only link to the living world.

"Anyway, Naegi, what's happening in the other side?" Mondo asks.

"Everything's fine, Oowada-kun," Naegi assures him. "As fine as living in a killing game allows, anyway. We're at the moment preparing for another Class Trial..." He turns to look at Ishimaru and Yamada, "for the double murder that's taken place. We've found some clues. Most of them are weird, they've got stuff to do with "justice hammers" and Gundam costumes."

"Those do sound weird, but I wish you the best of luck in your investigations," Ishimaru says. "I would very much like to know who my murderer is." Yamada, meanwhile, stays silent.

"Anyway..." Naegi turns to me with a smile. "Fujisaki-kun, we found Alter Ego."

Oh yeah. After all this, I have almost forgotten about Alter Ego. Naegi's words bring back a tsunami of guilt crashing over me, because they remind me of how my creation, something I developed to be a hope among the remaining students, has instead killed two of my fellow classmates.

_Their deaths are my fault._

"O-oh, yeah. A-alter Ego."

My face must have taken a radical change of expression because Naegi asks, "Is something the matter, Fujisaki-kun?"

"N-no. Nothing is! Haha!" I try to smile, but instead manages what I think must look like a nasty grimace.

"Something's up." Mondo frowns, sitting next to me and putting a hand on my shoulder. "What's wrong, kiddo?"

And that's when I can't hold it back any longer. I lower my head so the others can't see my face should I start crying.

"It's Alter Ego," I say in a very small voice. "It's the problem. Because y-you found Alter Ego, Naegi-kun, this horrible double murder happened. It happened because Ishimaru-kun and Yamada-kun fought over Alter Ego. It happened because of Alter Ego. I was the one who created it. Th-that means..." I took a big gulp of air before bursting out, "That means I'm the one who k-k-killed Ishimaru-kun and Yamada-kun! I... I'm sorry! I d-d-didn't mean to make Alter Ego something to kill someone for. I actually m-meant well, because I thought Alter Ego might be able to help you find out more about the school. I d-d-didn't mean any of this to happen! P-p-please forgive me!"

"Fujisaki-dono!" Yamada exclaims. "Just because Ishimaru-dono and I fought over your Alter Ego, doesn't mean any of this is your fault!"

"He is right!" Ishimaru agrees. Then he frowns. "But wait. What does our fighting over Alter Ego have to do with the murders?"

I raise my head a little. "Y-yamada-kun said that someone used your fighting to their advantage."

"Who's that?" Mukuro asks, a question no one is able to - or willing to - answer. At least for the time being.

"We'll know the answer at the end of this Class Trial," Naegi replies, then turns to me with a reassuring smile. "But please don't feel bad, Fujisaki-kun! Yamada-kun's right, none of this is your fault. I understand completely that you created Alter Ego to help us. In fact, he's being of very much help to us right now - he's currently analyzing the files in the computer to see whether there's any information about our current situation. He's very brave and responsible. He admitted that he was scared of getting found out by the mastermind, but he was willing to take the risk. He said that thinking about all of us gave him courage to do his job. I... I told him that we would definitely get out of that school together, he included."

I have been listening intently, but have zeroed in on some words Naegi-kun used.

" _Him?_ " I whisper. "Y-you refer to Alter Ego as a _he?_ "

"Of course," Naegi says seriously. "He was willing to risk everything for us. He understood perfectly what might happen to him if the mastermind had found out. Yet that didn't stop nor even discourage him." His expression softens. "Don't you think that's enough to consider him a friend?"

I have been struck dumb. Even I used to refer to Alter Ego as an "it". "I guess so," I admit, my frown vanishing slowly. _My Alter Ego. I don't know what you have been doing in the other side, but whatever it is, it seems that you've been doing a good job._

Mondo rubs a hand on my back. "See, kid, it ain't your fault," he says soothingly. "In fact, it's the other way around. Alter Ego's been a huge help to Naegi and the others."

"That's right." Naegi shoots me a smile. "Instead, I think we ought to thank you, Fujisaki-kun!"

I smile back and blush. "You're welcome," I say. "I'm just glad I can be of help to you, even when I'm not around!"

...

Eventually Naegi says that he should get going.

"But I'll definitely try to come back after the Class Trial," he says. "Even I don't understand it yet. I have no idea why I can go back and forth between this side and the other."

"Maybe you got that ability because of your Super High School Level Luck," Kuwata jokes.

"Yeah sure," Naegi laughs. "I'm not even sure I'm not dreaming or if I'll remember anything when I come back to the living world."

We're now standing in the long tunnel, about to send Naegi off. His translucent appearance is beginning to fade.

"But whatever you do, try to come back, okay?" Maizono says. "I mean, not in the dead meaning, of course, but in the one that's got to do with your psychic ability..."

"Yeah yeah, I think he got it," Kuwata rolls his eyes, nudging Maizono.

"For sure," Naegi assures her.

"And say hello from me to the others!" I exclaim. "And tell Alter Ego not to worry and to keep doing whatever he's doing. Tell him that his master's okay, and that I'll be rooting for him no matter what!"

"Will do, Fujisaki-kun," Naegi promises.

We all bide Naegi goodbye, and then he walks off to the end of the tunnel, getting smaller and smaller and more and more translucent until we can see him no longer.  



	5. End of Episode 7, Part I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new student comes to the Dead Students Society because she made one last disastrous gamble, bet on her life... and lost.

_"The sacrifice of hiding in a lie is never knowing why I played myself this way."_ (Linkin Park • Pushing Me Away)

# »̶✽«

"RISE AND SHINE, CLASSMATES!"

The next morning, I'm jolted out of my sleep by a loud voice. For a moment I'm back at the Hope's Peak Academy dormitory pre-despair, being woken up by the disciplinary committee instead of by Monobear's pleasant greeting of "Good morning, you bastards!"

For a moment the thought of chemistry and math and all the other subjects poke at my mind, kindly reminding me that I haven't finished my homework. For a moment I'm frantic, knowing that the teacher of so-and-so is not going to like that.

For a split second, I'm not dead.

But the next split second, I am.

I lift my head off my desk with a groan, finally remembering that I'm stuck in postmortem Hope's Peak. Sure, there are no subjects to study, no teachers to be afraid of, and no homeworks to finish, but there are also no exits... and no beds.

_How do all those dead people do it?_ I complain inwardly. I don't know how I'm going to survive for long without a decent bed.

In contrast, Ishimaru-kun looks as fresh as a dead daisy can get. He's standing at the front of the classroom, his arms stiffly by his sides and his face looking insanely serious.

"GOOD MORNING, CLASSMATES!" he shouts, giving a curt bow.

Used to following the rules wherever I am, I quickly shake off my sleepiness, scramble to my feet, and dip into a bow replying, "Good morning, Ishimaru-kun!" while the others just groan and rub their eyes.

"IT LOOKS AS IF FUJISAKI-KUN IS THE ONLY ONE READY FOR SCHOOL TODAY," Ishimaru says. "LET US DO IT ONE MORE TIME! GOOD MORNING CLA-"

"Oi, do us a favor and zip it, man," Kuwata complains, ruffling his own hair. "You're makin' my ears ring."

"Yeah, calm your shit, Kyoudai," Mondo says nonchalantly. "We ain't even at school anymore."

"What do you mean, not at school? Kyoudai, of course we are at school! What place has a classroom in it?" Ishimaru points out.

"A school," Mukuro says flatly.

"Exactly!"

"But this is a school without a principal," Maizono sighs. "Monobear is still alive, which means we're alone here without any teachers nor principals nor anything."

"Nor beds," I add helpfully.

"That means postmortem Hope's Peak is as good as not being a school," Maizono continues. "Because no one's here to lead it."

Mukuro's eyes suddenly darken and she turns to look at Maizono, but whatever it is she's trying to say, Maizono doesn't get the message.

Ishimaru's red eyes suddenly widen as something dawns on him.

"Very well then!" he says loudly. "If no one is here to lead postmortem Hope's Peak, then _I_ shall be its new principal! I will lead postmortem Hope's Peak Academy! I will make this school into a place where HOPE SHALL BE KEPT ALIVE! WE STUDENTS ARE THE ONES WHO CARRY THE HOPES OF THE FUTURE, BECAUSE WE WILL BE THE ONES CONTROLLING THE SOCIETY AFTER WE GRADUATE FROM HIGH SCHOOL! LEADING THIS SCHOOL AS BEST AS I CAN IS MY PROMISE, AND I SHALL NOT FAIL YOU, FELLOW CLASSMATES!"

Kuwata groans. "You gotta be kidding me."

"For Pete's sake, we're fuckin' dead," Mondo complains.

"Huh? Being dead does not mean we can give up hope, Kyoudai," Ishimaru says, striding to and fro in front of us. "All right, classmates, first we will all study math, because it is the most challenging subject we have all encountered! Algebra class starts at approximately nine o'clock...!"

Maizono tries to stop his ranting. "But there's no one to teach us!"

"Never fear, Maizono-kun," Ishimaru says. "I MYSELF WILL TEACH US ALGEBRA! I will become both the principal _and_ the math teacher! I always got an A++ in math when I was alive!"

Realizing that he cannot be stopped, Maizono's face goes red as Mukuro continues to stare at her as if saying, _Thanks a lot for giving him the idea!_

Yamada slides down in his chair. "Well, I guess that's what happens if you're stuck in an empty school with the head of the disciplinary committee," he grumbles under his breath.

I can only smile helplessly.

...

"From a hall monitor to a math teacher _and_ the principal? Don't you think that's quite too much a rank elevation?"

It's a dainty little voice with a whispery quality that speaks up next. It's a dainty little voice with a whispery quality that belongs to none of us in the room.

We all look around to see who could have said that, but see no one...

...At least, not until the door creaks open and a graceful long leg clad in a lacy knee-length black sock and a red high heel steps into view.

There is only one person in the school who dresses in black, white, and red.

"Celes-san?!" I gasp.

"That's me."

The door is opened all the way, revealing the Super High School Level Gambler. She is cool and composed as usual, her hands folded neatly in front of her. An insolvable smile is playing on her lips. She steps into the classroom as she looks around, twirling a strand of black hair around her fingers like how she always does whenever she's deep in thought. She ignores all of us and instead stares right at the window.

"Hmm, outside it's apparently fields, isn't it? Interesting. Though we still see no means of exit... This place is quite shabby and needs a bit of interior decorating skills, but it'll do until we find a way out." She chuckles to herself. "Ah, that's all we've been doing since we enrolled in Hope's Peak. Looking for a way out and never finding it."

She turns to us. "And hello to you all," she says as if she just suddenly remembers that we're all here, sitting silently. "It's nice to see you again."

"Oh, Celes-san!" Maizono exclaims. "It's nice to see you too! But... That means things are getting worse in the other side, since another one has just died..."

"Did you get executed?" Kuwata asks bluntly.

Celes smiles. "Oh, please don't remind me about that. It's in the past, the past is gone." She raises her pale hands to her chin, a trademark Celes move, all the while still smiling sweetly.

"Ya got executed," Mondo says dully.

Celes only laughs.

"Wait! Celes-kun, does that mean you are the one who murdered me?!" Ishimaru exclaims.

" _Me?_ Murder you? Oh, no." Her red eyes widen as she looks around at us. "Wait. Does that mean no one has told him yet what really happened?"

By observing quietly Celes' line of vision, I can surmise that while she said "no one", she actually meant Yamada-kun. His face instantly darkens and he turns away. For some reason, I notice he has been in an even worse mood since Celes' arrival. He wouldn't even look at her.

I blink. Something's not right here.

"Ah, it seems not." Celes smiles. "Very well, I shall do it. Ishimaru-kun, your murderer is someone who came to this room before me. I still can't believe he hasn't said anything about it yet."

"Huh?" Ishimaru looks blank. "Who hasn't said anything about what to whom?"

Celes exhales and rolls her eyes. "Well, the person is Yamada, of course!" she bursts with impatience. "Yamada's the one who murdered you!"

Everyone freezes. All eyes turn to Yamada. His face goes red under our heavy gaze.

"Yes, yes, it's true!" He finally breaks down. "I was the one who did it! I just couldn't stay still after what he did to my little angel!"

"Little angel?" Mukuro, Maizono, and Kuwata look blanker than ever.

"Alter Ego," I quickly explain.

"Alter Ego?" Ishimaru blinks in confusion. "But what is it have I done to Alter Ego?"

"You stole her!" Yamada snaps. "You stole her and hid her! You wanted her all for yourself!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Ishimaru protests.

"Don't play dumb, Ishimaru-dono," Yamada retorts. "Here we go again, repeating the same conversation as the one we had the day we died."

"But I really didn't do anything!" Ishimaru clenches his fists. "Why would you think a respectful disciplinarian would do something as foul as that?!"

"Maybe not you, but Ishida-dono might," Yamada points out.

"I would never, not in a million years," Ishimaru insists, then adds in a rather uncertain voice, "...and who is this Ishida person, anyway...?" He looks genuinely confused.

"Don't pretend you don't know anything," Yamada says through gritted teeth. "Celestia-dono clearly said that-"

He suddenly freezes. It's as if something important has just occurred to him. The rest of us can only watch, because we're all as confused as Ishimaru.

Slowly, he turns to Celes. Every tinge of color has been drained from his face.

"Celestia-dono said... She said... She... Said... Oh."

He finally trails off, his mouth hanging open.

Celes raises a hand to her mouth and smiles a small, deceitful smile.

"Ah, finally the pig-boy gets it," she says with a chuckle. " _Finally,_ he gets it."

"You... You mean it was a _lie?!_ " Yamada recovers from his dumbstruck silence and screeches. "You mean I killed an actually innocent person just because of one of your lies?!"

Celes doesn't let down her hand. Her head is somewhat tilted forward so that shadows fall over her face and the only parts of her face we can see clearly are her glinting red eyes.

"Whoever told you to believe in anything the Queen of Lies says anyway, pig-boy?"

Yamada can't answer. He just sits there, his mouth opening and closing like that of a goldfish. We can only stare at him.

And at Celestia Ludenberg.

The Queen of Lies.

_She's dangerous. She's been dangerous all this time. And she's always been right under our noses._

_How easy it would have been for her to trick someone else into doing things they'd never imagined themselves doing._

Icicles are running up and down my spine, but Ishimaru refuses to be dumbfounded by the ruthless side of the graceful gambler we never knew she had.

"Okay, so if Yamada-kun killed me, then who did _you_ kill?"

Celes chuckles again. "Isn't it obvious?"

But Ishimaru still looks blank.

Celes turns her eyes to the ceiling and heaves a huge sigh, as if she really can't believe she still needs to deal with slow-minded people the likes of Ishimaru after death.

"Why, Yamada, of course."

* * *

And so, out of the mouth of the gambler comes the truth. Or, at least, what we hope it is.

The story, according to Celes-san, goes like this. Some time after Mondo's execution, Asahina-san happened to pass through the public bath locker room at night. She saw a light coming from inside one of the lockers. It was actually Alter Ego who had gone out of sleep mode. That was a part of my plan - I hid him in there so the others would be able to find him should anything unplanned happen to me.

The next morning, she told the others about her find, and they all went into the locker room to see what it was. They found Alter Ego. Kirigiri-san interacted with him by typing in questions.

Now, unknown by everyone else, two people have taken a huge interest in Alter Ego. Yamada-kun, because he saw Alter Ego as a sweet and different-from-any-other 2D girl, exactly his type. Ishimaru-kun, because he thought Alter Ego housed the soul of his kyoudai after seeing the sprite of Mondo-kun's head.

Soon those separate interests became fuel for arguments between Yamada and Ishimaru. Like Yamada had said to me yesterday, _they both wanted the computer._

Now.

Celes-san.

She was the one who used their argument to her advantage. Very interested in Monobear's prize money of one million yen, she decided to hatch a murder plan. However, the first part of it was to have someone else do it first.

So, she hid Alter Ego and then came to Yamada, pretending to be hurt and humiliated while lying to him that Ishimaru had stolen Alter Ego and even did bad things to her to keep her quiet. Of course, believing what she said, Yamada became enraged. He said he would get back at Ishimaru for stealing the girl he loved and hurting a lady.

Celes helpfully suggested Yamada what he should do if he didn't want to get caught. She had thought of that plan all along. Yamada agreed to go with it.

The plan worked. Yamada hit Ishimaru on the head when he wasn't looking. That was why Ishimaru never knew who his murderer was.

However, Yamada had made a fatal mistake when he agreed to work together with the gambler. His actions certainly turned around and bit him when Celes suddenly turned against him and killed him. Having murdered the murderer of a fellow classmate and protected by a foolproof plan, Celes was ready to receive her one million yen.

Her plan was virtually flawless - she had even planted false evidence such as numbered "justice hammers" and framed Hagakure by dressing him up in a Gundam costume. In short, it wasn't supposed to fail. Her dream of getting the money was about to come true. However, her plans were fooled at the last minute - in the Class Trial - and she was voted guilty. That was why she's here with us now.

"So ya really were executed," Mondo repeats flatly as Yamada turns away in anger and disbelief.

Celes laughs pleasantly. "Well, I guess that's what happens when your dreams get in someone else's way," she says with a sweet smile. "Your dreams - along with yourself - go up in flames. Literally."

* * *

The afternoon is spent in silence. Yamada and Ishimaru are outside. Finally knowing that Ishimaru hadn't done anything to Alter Ego, Yamada invites him outside for a talk.

I turn to look discreetly at the Super High School Level Gambler, who's sitting there with Maizono and Mukuro. Mondo and Kuwata are playing shooting games, which Kuwata must be failing spectacularly at. He's right when he confessed that he was rubbish at shooting games.

Before Celes-san, both Maizono's and my own murders are done in self-defense and in the spur of a moment. But Celes-san?

This is the girl who made a plan to murder. She really _did_ want to murder.

It's not too surprising that Yamada isn't quite ready to forgive her yet.

However, I always need to listen to a story from both sides.

So I sidle up to Celes-san and give her a tap on her shoulder. "Um... Celes-san?"

She looks up. "What is it, Fujisaki-san?"

I played with my fingers. Though she is ruthless, I find myself fumbling in face of her charisma. "Um... I was wondering if you would like to talk."

She smiles. The meaning behind it is insolvable. "Talk about what, Fujisaki-san?"

"Y-your d-d-dream!" I blurt out. "Y-you said you had a d-dream when you were alive."

"Oh, that." She suddenly loses interest. "Why would we want to talk about that? It's gone. Along with everything else I had in my power."

I sit down.

She sighs. "Fine, because you are sweet and a good listener, Fujisaki-san, I will tell you." And with that she begins her tale, looking down at her lap.

"...I was on the run when I was alive. I didn't like my reality. I wanted to start over. Delete everything I've known and been. So wherever I went, I always covered my tracks afterward, so no one could ever find me. I was that good. I was that paranoid."

"Paranoid? Why? And on the run from whom?"

Celes doesn't answer. Instead, her eyes travel to the ceiling. The smile is still there. She suddenly turns back to me just as quickly, then changes the subject. "Oh, and about my dream. I've always wanted to live in a castle like those of the European princesses."

"O-oh? Really?" My eyes widen, surprised at the sudden subject change and by her weirdly random dream.

"That's right," she says with a smile. "All the money I've gained from my... ahem... profession... is almost enough to buy me my own Gothic mansion. All I needed was one million more. And guess what?" She tilts her head and raises her hands to her chin. "Monobear suddenly offered a prize money of exactly one million yen for the graduate. Isn't that convenient?"

My mouth forms one tight line. Obviously, Monobear had meant to trick Celes-san. And she fell right into it.

"But it doesn't matter anymore now, my dream has been burnt to ashes. When I was tied to that stake, I was saying goodbye to both my selves, and to my dreams as well."

" _Both your selves?_ " I ask. "What do you mean by that?"

Celes suddenly smiles and puts her hand up to her mouth. "Ah, did I say that?" she says lightly. "Oops, my bad. That's a part of my secret."

"O-okay." I know enough not to ask anything else. After staying still for a few moments, I finally say something again.

"Speaking of secrets... I also have one. I've kept it for as long as I've remembered."

Celes' expression is neutral. "Fujisaki-san, I think I know what it is."

I nod. "Yes, because you were there on the class trial..."

She smiles. "Sometimes it's okay to keep secrets, Fujisaki-san."

I nod with a small smile. "Yes, but I think sometimes, it also helps to let other people know. It doesn't hurt as much. So it's also okay to let them out!"

* * *

Mukuro proves this by once again telling the newcomer that she wasn't actually Junko Enoshima.

Celes frowns. "Why are you letting us know that?"

"Because we're dead and it doesn't matter anymore," Mukuro answers. "Besides, telling people stuff lifts burdens off you. On one condition, though, if Naegi-kun should come back here, you're all to call me Junko Enoshima in front of him." She tells Celes how come we have seen Naegi in the postmortem world.

"Hmm, a psychic ability, is it?" Celes' red eyes widen and she leans forward. "What do you think of that, Maizono-san?"

Maizono groans exasperatedly. "I've told you before, the thing I have is just intuition!"

Celes leans back in her chair and smiles, putting up a hand yet again. "Of course. I was just poking fun."

...

Finally, Ishimaru and Yamada return from their walk. The second they come into the classroom, they are like changed people. Okay, maybe not as "changed" as in after the sauna battle with Mondo, but still, at least they aren't arguing anymore.

"So, how did it go, Yamada-kun?" I ask as he sits down next to me.

"It went well, Fujisaki-dono!" he says with satisfaction. "He forgave me! He understood that I was wickedly tricked." He emphasizes the word "wickedly", and at the thought of Celes' scheme, his face darkens again.

"That's great!" I say to him, but I smile softly to myself. _This might take a while._

"Ahem, classmates!" Ishimaru suddenly exclaims with renewed vigor. He's back at the front of the class. "It seems as if I missed algebra class because I had something else very important to attend to. However, I promise I will make it up to you! And so, I wish to inform you that advanced physics class will start shortly - with myself again as the teacher, of course! Let us work hard and give it our all!"

We all let out a collective groan.


	6. End of Episode 7, Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She was so deep into her lies that she even fooled her own heart...

_Be yourself, but be your best self._

# »̶✽«̶

Celes-san doesn't actively take part in any of our activities that follows. Although we don't study advanced physics after all, we engage in less boring activities. We play computer games, chat, and make jokes. Mondo and Kuwata go up to the blackboard and draw a rather rude caricature of Monobear, which Ishimaru quickly erases as soon as they have finished. In short, we're finally able to have a little taste of fun after forgetting what it feels like for a long time.

All the while, Celes has been doing nothing but sitting on her chair. Her face is serious and her eyes distant, as if she's doing advanced physics problems in her head. She twirls a strand of black hair around her fingers.

Finally, after quite a long time indeed, she speaks, addressing the rest of us.

"Would you mind if I asked you a question?"

"Huh?" Maizono turns to her distractedly. "Umm, of course not, Celes-san."

"Shoot," Kuwata says, but doesn't turn away from his fourth rude drawing of Monobear.

I feel bad for Celes-san, so I come over and sit next to her. "Of course I d-don't mind," I tell her. "What is it?"

Celes shoots me a small smile and says loudly, "I would like all of you to mention everything you know about me."

I frown, puzzled. "Um... You're the Super High School Level Gambler."

"She's called the Queen of Lies," Yamada mutters under his breath.

"You've won loads of money in the past." Having finished his collaborative Monobear drawing, Kuwata clears chalk dust from his hands and goes over to us.

"Ya love milk tea," Mondo says.

Celes smiles and tilts her head. "Yes. And?"

We look at one another. We suddenly realize that we don't know a lot about Celes.

"Um... You love Gothic lolita style?" Maizono offers, at which Kuwata smirks and nudges her. "You don't say. Anyone can see that!"

"No, please do," Celes interrupts. "Mention everything. I wear long socks, for example. Everything is welcome, even the most obvious of statements."

We exchange puzzled glances again. "If you say so, Celes-kun," Ishimaru says. "Um... Your hair is tied up in two spiraled ponytails!"

"And your hair is black," Mukuro adds.

"You have red eyes," I say.

"Ya have two eyes," says Mondo.

"You love frilly skirts," says Maizono.

"You wear that weird headband-thingy on you head." Kuwata touches his own fiery red hair.

"You have a metal finger," I say.

"Ya have ten fingers." Mondo again.

"Your name is Celestia Ludenberg." That was Ishimaru.

Finally, everyone runs out of obvious things to say about Celes-san. Mondo and Kuwata have even mentioned every single detail of Celes' appearance from the top of her ruffled headband to the soles of her red shoes.

The room is silent for a moment. Celes' smile gets wider and wider until...

Her silvery laugh suddenly rings out in the silent classroom. We all look at her with astonishment. "Celes-kun, I do not recall having said anything funny!" Ishimaru protests.

Celes' laugh finally subsides to a few dainty giggles. She puts a hand over her mouth. "You're right, none of what you said was funny," she agrees, "but none other than because _none of what you said is true!_ "

We only stare at her wordlessly. Maizono is the first one to speak again. "Um... What exactly are you saying, Celes-san? I don't get it."

"What I'm saying is, everything you knew about me is wrong," Celes says, the small smile still on her face. "The only right ones are "I'm the Super High School Level Gambler", "I was called the Queen of Lies", and "I've won a lot of money in the past". The rest of your statements, I'm afraid, are false."

"Eh? But surely the "Your name is Celestia Ludenberg" one is true?" Kuwata's eyes are bulging.

Celes smiles. It suddenly looks cunning and deceitful than anything else. "Sorry, no, Kuwata-kun. I'm afraid that one is wrong also! My real name is..."

She suddenly turns to Yamada.

Yamada turns to clockwork and grunts obediently, "Yasuhiro Taeko-dono."

Everyone's mouths fall open in shock. So Celestia Ludenberg is a pseudonym, and her real name is Taeko Yasuhiro?!

"Wait," Mondo exclaims. "If your name is a lie, then the others...!"

"That's right." Celes grins. "I'm the same as the rest of you. I'm Japanese, not some glamorous European Goth lolita lady. My clothes are no more than a costume. And you mentioned my ponytails..." She shrugs, her black ponytails bouncing about daintily. "They're just clip-ons."

Everyone gasps again.

"So everything was a disguise?" Ishimaru bursts out, incredulous.

Celes nods.

"So you were pretending to be someone else?"

Celes nods again.

"But why?!"

Celes smiles at me. "Well, since none of you would listen earlier, I already told Fujisaki-san that. But I will still repeat myself. The truth is, I was on the run when I was alive - on the run from my own self. I didn't like my reality. I wanted to start over. Delete everything I've known and been. Especially who I've been."

"But what's wrong with the old you, Celes-san?" Maizono asks, puzzled. "Why don't you want to be Taeko Yasuhiro?"

"Because _I hate her,_ that's why," she snarls. "I _hate_ Taeko Yasuhiro. She's... average. Normal. Standing-in-the-background sort of person. She's just someone who comes to this world, she'll also be someone who goes just as easily. But Celestia Ludenberg..." She smiles. "Now _that_ is a person straight from a Gothic storybook. She has pretty hair, pretty eyes, pretty, frilly clothes, skin so pale it's almost like porcelain, a pretty name, and comes straight from a European dream land. She makes a huge impact on people around her. She has ruined too many lives to be taken as just another average human being."

She raises her hands to her chin. " So who would you choose to be: über average Taeko Yasuhiro or Celestia Ludenberg, Queen of Lies? You all know pretty well whom _I_ chose."

We're all silent.

Kuwata is the one who breaks it. "...But why are you suddenly letting us know all this?"

Celes smiles again. "Another topic I have already discussed with Fujisaki-san," she says sweetly. "Something I learned is that it's okay to keep secrets, but it's also okay to let them out. By doing so, you're letting a burden off your shoulders. It'll hurt less, knowing that you've shared its weight. Isn't that right, Fujisaki-san?"

I nod. "J-j-just like m-my secret..."

"And mine," Mukuro adds seriously.

After a pause, Mondo frowns and sits down, as if he's getting ready to think some mind-blowing thoughts. "Okay, so we know that you've been keepin' Taeko Yasuhiro a secret," he begins. "But how'd Yamada know about her even before ya mentioned her?"

Celes smiles and turns to Yamada, who promptly looks away.

"Oh, that," she says lightly, folding her hands. "Yamada-kun is among the _unfortunate_ few to know me as both Taeko Yasuhiro and Celestia Ludenberg."

* * *

After all that, the air seems to hang heavy with the added weight of Celes' confession. Yamada is the one who seems to be affected by it the most; he has excused himself, red-faced, to go out on a walk alone in the tunnel. He senses the confession hanging heavy in the air, and he doesn't like it. I wonder how "unfortunate" it is to know our gambler as both Taeko Yasuhiro and Celestia Ludenberg. If Yamada-kun is this affected by her confession, it must be quite unfortunate indeed.

"Although your confession has left all of us mind-blown, Celes-kun," Ishimaru says with a yawn since it's already quite late into the night, "we are glad and honored that you have finally entrusted us with the truth."

Celes thinks for a moment before answering.

"Mm-hmm. The truth," she starts, then suddenly loses her composure in a fit of small giggles.

We all turn to her with surprise for what seems to be the hundredth time today.

"Oi, what's so funny now, man?" Kuwata groans. "What is it with you and suddenly bursting into laughter for no apparent reason? You're driving me nuts. It's creepy, man."

" _The truth,_ is it?" Celes calms down a bit, though she's still chuckling. "Funny you should say that to the Queen of Lies."

Mukuro frowns - I see her put up her guard. She seems to know where this is leading. "...Please tell us what you mean by that."

The gambler smiles widely and puts her hands up to her chin. "Remember what I said to Yamada-kun this afternoon?"

"What?" Mondo demands, but in my head I'm already replaying her exact statement.

_Whoever told you to believe in anything the Queen of Lies says anyway, pig-boy?_

I gasp. Like Mukuro, I think I also know where this conversation is going... and I don't like it. I don't like it at all.

Mondo's eyes widen with realization. He stands up angrily and marches over to Celes, his face contorted into an expression of anger and annoyance mixed all at once. "You mean all these useless shit you've been saying to us..."

"All those stuff about your dreams..." Maizono continues with wide eyes.

"All of those information on Yasuhiro Taeko-kun..." Ishimaru goes on.

"All th-that t-talk about s-s-secrets...!" I manage to squeak out.

Even when confronted by a barrage of questions from a bunch of frustrated high schoolers and threatened by an angry gang leader, Celes doesn't lose her composure - she stays calm, cool, collected, and mysterious. She simply shoots Mondo an icy stare paired with a victorious half-smile. Even then I have to admire her guts - I haven't seen any other girl hold her stare this long and this confidently at Mondo-kun before.

Then her half-smile grows and grows into a grin fit for the Cheshire Cat.

"That's right," she sings out sweetly...

" _I lied~!_ "


	7. End of Episode 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oogami Sakura joins the Dead Students Society. Celes, meanwhile, begins to miss her royal milk tea.

_When your mind says give up, hope whispers one more try._

# »̶✽«̶

"RISE AND SHINE, CLASSMATES!"

Ishimaru is at it again. He's back at the front of the class, but he's now holding a clipboard. I groan. Doesn't he ever give it a rest?

But even without having to ask the question, I already know the answer: no.

Ishimaru goes on, "Before we get down to our studies, let me check the attendance! I would like whoever gets called to say 'PRESENT!' and say it loudly! All right, let us start. FUJISAKI CHIHIRO!"

"P-present!" I quickly call out.

After making a mark on his list, Ishimaru shouts out the next name on the list. "IKUSABA MUKURO!"

"Present," Mukuro says with a sigh.

"ISHIMARU KIYOTAKA! PRESENT!"

And on it goes. Mukuro looks really put out, as if she can't believe she's stuck in another school life after death. Being stuck in here with no way out was bad enough, but now we're stuck here with no way out _and_ school life to pay attention to.

Finally getting to the end of the list, Ishimaru has called each one of us in the alphabetical order of our last names, from Kuwata, to Maizono, then Oowada, then Yamada - that is, everyone except Celes-san.

Celes is about to raise her hand when Ishimaru calls out the last name on his list. "YASUHIRO TAEKO!"

Celes' pale and pretty face suddenly gets contorted into that of something livid. "Why are you calling me by that name?!" she demands angrily.

"According to your confession, it is your real name, is it not?" Ishimaru doesn't seem to be rattled at all.

"But I lied about my confession!" Celes explodes. "I lied about everything! I am not Taeko Yasuhiro! I am Celestia Ludenberg! I am the Super High School Level Gambler! And I am the Queen of Lies!" She has her metal finger up. I can see that it's shaking with anger.

Ishimaru, again, doesn't seem to mind. "All right then, if you say so, Yasuhiro-kun." He makes a note on his board. "CELESTIA LUDENBERG."

Celes assumes her usual mask as quickly as the outburst. "Present," she says daintily with a smile. "Yes, that's much better. Thank you, Ishimaru-kun."

We can only stare.

Yamada's face is red, and he's turning away as if he doesn't want to have any part in it. "That was quick," he mumbles.

* * *

It's noon when there's a knock on the door.

We're having a chemistry lesson when there's a knock on the door.

Ishimaru-kun, also the chemistry teacher, sighs in irritation. "Yes, who is it?" he says. "I am in the middle of teaching here."

Ishimaru may not notice it since he's so absorbed in his teaching, but we all do. We look around in confusion, doing separate attendance checks in our heads.

Fujisaki Chihiro, Ikusaba Mukuro, Ishimaru Kiyotaka, Kuwata Leon, Maizono Sayaka, Oowada Mondo, Yamada Hifumi... and Celestia Ludenberg. Everyone is present.

We look at one another. So who could have knocked on the door?

The door opens... and the Ogre comes in.

Ishimaru turns to her and smiles, as if beckoning a hesitating new student into the class. "Ah, it is very nice of you to join us, Oogami-kun," he says, as if we're still in an ordinary high school in an ordinary world. "Please come in and sit next to Ikusaba-kun. I'm about to continue the lesson in a minu..."

Suddenly it strikes him like lightning, and he whirls around again. "WAIT OOGAMI-KUN ARE YOU _DEAD?_ " he screeches.

"Of course she's dead," Celes grumbles in reply. We all stare as Sakura walks across the class silently to sit on the chair next to Mukuro.

_Mukuro. "Ikusaba-kun". Not Junko._

Wait.

Mukuro hasn't told Sakura her real name, so how does she already know which one Mukuro is? She's supposed to know Mukuro as Junko. My eyes widen. Something is more than meets the eye here. However, it seems as if I'm the only one who notices that tiny detail. The others are more focused on the fact that yet another student is dead.

And just like that, we're not studying chemistry anymore.

"Oi," says Kuwata. "So if you're dead... That means there's another murderer out there!"

"Then there's gonna be another fuckin' school trial," Mondo says through gritted teeth.

"Then there's going to be another execution!" Maizono cries out. "Oh, why doesn't Monobear just stop this? This is much too cruel! I can't bear the thought of another one being executed..."

"You do not have to worry."

It's the first time our newcomer speaks, so we all turn to her instantly.

"What do you mean, not to worry?" Mukuro snarls. "Do you think we won't worry at the thought of another of our classmates being executed?"

Sakura looks out at the rolling green fields outside this building. For a moment she doesn't speak.

"You do not have to worry," she finally starts, "because there is not going to be an execution."

"What do you mean?" Mukuro demands.

Sakura turns to look at her. I do too. Mukuro seems to be in a bad mood for some unknown reason.

Or maybe, like me, she also noticed that Sakura had known who she was before she introduced herself?

"Well?" Mukuro says again.

Sakura's reply surprises Mukuro for she talks about a whole different subject.

"...You are Ikusaba Mukuro."

Mukuro is quite taken aback. She sits up straight on her chair, her blue eyes wide open and her mouth opening and closing though no sound comes out.

"N-no!" Mukuro shoots back once she has found her voice. "I am Enoshima Junko!"

Sakura ignores her and instead goes on, "You are the Super High School Level Soldier."

"No! You're wrong, I'm a fucking _model!_ " Mukuro cries out.

Sakura is silent.

"My name is _Enoshima Junko_ and I'm the Super High School Level _Fashion Girl,_ " Mukuro snaps. "I'm popular, lovable... Beautiful..."

We all exchange glances. It is as if Mukuro is trying to convince herself about who she is more than trying to convince us.

_Poor Ikusaba-san,_ I think. _She's so hung up on her duty towards her sister that although her disguise and false identity are slowly crumbling, she still refuses to let go._

Suddenly Mukuro slumps down on her chair, her eyes filled with despair. "I'm... Enoshima... Junko..." It's as if she's running out of fight.

"I'm... Enoshima... Junko..."

Maizono goes over to her desk. "...It's all right, Ikusaba-san..."

"No... I am Enoshima Junko."

Maizono says nothing and begins to pat her back. We're all silent.

It's Sakura who speaks up again.

"... Ikusaba Mukuro. I have to tip my hat to you."

"Eh?" Mukuro brings her head up, forgetting to deny the fact that she's Junko and not Mukuro. "Wh-why?"

"Only the toughest ones are willing to take on the most risky, seemingly impossible jobs," Sakura says seriously. "I see your taking on the image of your sister as one of these impossible jobs, since you and your sister are so different. However, you are still willing to take on that job despite all its risks. That is why you should grace yourself with the honor of thinking appropriately of yourself, of living your own life and not the one your sister has put you up to, although I understand that you love your sister dearly. You are not bad a person, Ikusaba Mukuro."

Everyone is silent. Everyone seems to be taking in Sakura's deep, well-thought words. But I can't help but wonder how she knows all this.

The "Enoshima Junko" in the room wavers for a moment, and suddenly we see Ikusaba Mukuro - the real Ikusaba Mukuro.

"Thank you..." she whispers, but then she assumes her usual disguise and puts on a hard face. "But where the heck did you learn all this?!"

Sakura turns and looks out of the window. "... I struck a deal with Monobear. I have talked to him a lot of times, so I know all about your sister, the mastermind. I know all about your sister... And yourself," she says.

"You know all about my sister's plans?" Mukuro groans. "You knew it all along?!"

"Oi, you struck a deal with Monobear?!" Kuwata interrupts. "What sorta deal?!"

Sakura answers, "Monobear forced me to agree to his plans. If a stalemate should occur and if it seems as if no one else has a motive for murder, I was the one supposed to trigger despair-"

Our faces go pale.

"-by committing the next murder."

Mukuro puts her head despairingly in her hands as Mondo bursts out, "That bastard! He's never out of any ideas for that fuckin' despair of his!"

"So what did you do, Oogami-san?" Celes asks calmly. It looks like she's the only one in the room who's still calm like still water.

"I did what he asked me to," Sakura replies. "I committed a murder."

"So if you fuckin' murdered, where's the victim?!" Mondo demands.

We all look straight at the Ogre. She has her eyes closed as if she's concentrating on something in her mind.

And then she opens her eyes.

"Here she is," she says.

* * *

...

"So Oogami-san committed suicide, as in she murdered _herself,_ " Celes says with satisfaction. "That is a smart move."

"Are you sure that won't trigger despair, Oogami-dono?" Yamada asks, incredulous.

"No. I have left a letter for Asahina," Sakura says. She is now standing in front of the windows, looking out at the fields again.

Celes and Yamada open their mouths at the same time as if they're about to ask the same question. However, it's Celes who beats Yamada to it. "What did you say to her?"

Yamada's face goes red. "Gggh, I was about to ask the same thing!" he seethes with annoyance, then folds his arms and turns away.

I shake my head. Celes-san and Yamada-kun are still acting like cat and mouse. I don't know when they're going to go back to normal.

"I told her that it was for the best," Sakura says in the meantime. "I told her not to be afraid nor to try and avenge me, and that I wanted the rest of the students to work together. I wanted them to fight despair. I wanted them to get out."

"But you did not tell them my sister's plans, did you?" Mukuro asks quietly. Her face is serious. Again, we're now seeing the real Mukuro instead of Junko. I've begun to notice a considerable difference in personality between the real Mukuro and the Mukuro when she's pretending to be Junko.

"No, I did not," Sakura assures her. "That is something they would need to find out by themselves."

Mukuro nods. "...Good." Then she clears her throat awkwardly before continuing, "Um. I... also need to... 'tip my hat'... to you too, Oogami-san. Sacrificing yourself for a greater good... That is truly the deed of a warrior."

Sakura nods.

"And I am glad you did not tell the others about my sister's plan," Mukuro goes on quietly.

Sakura turns her head a little to glance at her. "Why?"

I catch the hidden question.

_Isn't your sister evil?_

"Why do you not want the others to know who you really were? Why do you still decide to keep your disguise?"

Another hidden question.

_Hasn't Ikusaba-san already failed?_

However, Mukuro looks up and into her eyes. "...Because whenever my mind says _give up,_ hope whispers _one more try._ "

Sakura closes her mouth. She nods and turns away, as if she accepts Mukuro's answer truly.

And then both warriors fall silent.

* * *

...

Some time later, Celes turns to Yamada, smiling.

"I wonder if there's any tea in this postmortem school."

I groan inwardly. _Here we go again._

"I wonder if there's even any kitchens in this postmortem school," Yamada says, as if to annoy Celes.

Celes opens her mouth to retort. However, it's Sakura who speaks up next.

"Actually, there may be a kitchen here," she answers. "When I found myself in the tunnel earlier and was walking towards this classroom, I came across a door."

"A door? That's funny. I didn't see anything when I came here," Ishimaru says in puzzlement.

"Maybe it's how this postmortem school operates," Sakura says. "Maybe since we have quite a lot of students here, whoever in control of this postmortem world decides to give us more movement range and thus the door appears."

"Sounds a bit too much like a video game, if ya ask me," Mondo says lightly, "but since there's no other explanation, that'll have to do."

"The door was not locked," Sakura goes on. "When I looked through it, I saw a hallway exactly the same as one of those back in Hope's Peak Academy."

"So if the hallways are the same..." Maizono says thoughtfully, "maybe the whole layout of this school is the same! That means there has to be a kitchen here!"

"Good," Celes says, still zeroing on Yamada. "That means you _can_ make me some tea, Yamada-kun."

Yamada doesn't turn away from the computer game he's playing. "Miss Ludenberg," he says coldly, distantly. "If you want some tea, you're free to make them by yourself."

Celes chuckles and brings her hands to her chin. "Oh, and what happened to your signature royal milk tea, Yamada-kun?"

"It's not _my_ signature royal milk tea, Miss Ludenberg. It's yours. You were the one who modified the menu."

" _It's not mine, you swine,_ " Celes suddenly explodes, making me jump a bit in my chair. "You're the only one who can make it! I want some royal milk tea and I want it _now!_ Get to it, pig-boy!"

She may have made me flinch, but Yamada doesn't even move his head. "I may make you some once I beat Oowada-dono at this shooting game," he says coolly. "Then again, maybe not."

Celes' face goes as red as her tie with pure rage. I decide to interrupt before she pops a vein.

"Umm, Celes-san, if you want some tea, I can accompany you look for the kitchen," I offer.

"And I'll make you the tea," Maizono says from across the room. "I haven't felt hungry since I came here - maybe that's how being dead works? - but now I would like to have a few sweet treats."

"I would also like to get myself some protein drinks if they have any," Sakura adds. "So I will come too."

Celes gives in and sighs. "... All right. That sounds good enough."

As Maizono stands up, Kuwata grabs her arm for a moment. "Oi, fetch me some burgers, will ya?"

Maizono laughs and playfully swats at his shoulder. "Tsk tsk, junk food," she teases, and then walks to the door with Celes-san, Oogami-san, and I.

...

To everyone's relief, there is a kitchen here. It's very similar to the one back at Hope's Peak Academy. In fact, like what Maizono said earlier, _everything_ is similar to Hope's Peak Academy. It's hard to even tell you're already dead.

"Please wait while I make you tea, Celes-san," Maizono says kindly, starting to busy herself. Sakura begins to look through the fridge and cupboards for her protein drink, and Celes and I sit at the table.

"Thank you, Maizono-san," Celes says, but her face is distant, as if she's thinking about something else altogether.

A few minutes later, Maizono finishes Celes' tea. She puts it down on the table in front of her. "There you go." She puts another one in front of me. "And here's one for you, Fujisaki-san."

"O-oh, thank you Maizono-san," I stammer. "You d-didn't have to..."

Celes also looks up and smiles at her. "Thank you." Then she takes a sip.

Maizono has turned her back to begin on Kuwata's burger, so she doesn't see Celes' expression by the time her cup is back on her saucer.

"Thank you, Maizono-san. This is delicious."

But she looks absolutely in despair.

She looks sad and dejected, and full of regret. If you look at her eyes really closely, you might even see that a very tiny film of water has covered them. It isn't enough to make her cry, but it's there all the same.

I quickly look down at my cup of tea to avoid seeing her tear-filled eyes.

Then it strikes me. Of course. This is ordinary tea. She misses her usual royal milk tea.

However, when I sneak a look at her face again, I'm surprised to see something else altogether. She doesn't miss her milk tea, not at all.

Instead, she looks as if she misses a very good friend.


	8. End of Episode 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naegi makes another visit to the postmortem world with good news... and bad news.

_Good things fall apart sometimes, so better things can fall together._

# »̶✽«

I wake up late today. I blush as soon as I do, because I find that everyone else has woken up. Luckily, Ishimaru-kun doesn't seem to notice because there has been a guest to the postmortem world. Fortunately, it's not that someone else has died - rather, it's Naegi-kun who has found a way back here.

"Naegi-kun!" Maizono exclaims. "So you found a way to return here!"

"Actually, no," Naegi says. "I didn't do anything to return here. In fact, I simply found myself here. I don't think I can control this psychic power of mine... Sorry."

"Oh, it's quite all right," Maizono says. "The only thing that matters is that you're here now."

"So what new information have you gleaned regarding our current situation?" Mukuro asks him.

However, Naegi only stares at her weirdly.

"Um... What is it?" Mukuro asks. That's when she realizes that she hasn't been acting like Junko. The brash, bold gyaru wouldn't have phrased her question with the words she had chosen.

"What?" she quickly asks in a high-pitched voice. "What?! Do I have something on my face?"

"No." After making sure that "Junko Enoshima" is acting like herself, Naegi answers Mukuro's question for real. "We've just been given time to investigate. We've found some clues in the recreation room." He turns to look at Sakura and nods once. "We'll find your murderer for sure, and see to it that they are justified for what they've done."

Sakura only nods in answer. Not once does she even say that there isn't even a "murderer".

"Now, moving on to other things," Naegi goes on. "About Alter Ego." He looks straight at me.

I jump. "What about him?"

"I just want you to know that Alter Ego is doing a brilliant job," Naegi says with a slight smile. "Like what I've told you before, to glean more information about this school, he requested to be connected to the school's network. Since there isn't any Internet connection in the public bath locker room, I brought him to the secret room Kirigiri-san found on the second floor. There's Internet connection there and is just as safe because there aren't any security cameras. Monobear'll never know that we've got a digital friend helping us." He smiles wider.

I can only nod. Again I think, _I don't know what you're doing out there, my Alter Ego, but I'm glad to know you're doing a good job._

"Sorry guys, but I think it's time to go now," Naegi finally says.

"Can't ya stay around first, man?" Kuwata says. "Yamada and I are gonna play some shooting games and I'm gonna shoot his ass off."

"I thought you said you were bad at shooting games, Kuwata-dono," Yamada huffs haughtily.

"Sorry, Kuwata-kun, I really can't." Naegi smiles apologetically. "I need to go back to continue the investigation. We think Monobear's getting bored, which means the trial will start soon."

"That asshole of a bear," Kuwata grumbles under his breath, turning to the game.

"But you'll try to return after the trial, right?" Maizono asks. "To... You know... Tell us about the result?" She's playing along with Sakura's plan to not say that there is actually no murderer to be executed.

 _No murderer to be executed,_ I think as we go out to the tunnel to send Naegi off (that is, everyone but Kuwata-kun and Yamada-kun, who are still playing computer games). I think this is the best trial yet. If Naegi and the living others get it right, no one will be executed, because there isn't such a person as Sakura's murderer but Sakura herself.

"Of course," Naegi says, starting to walk towards the other end of the tunnel. As usual, his appearance gets more and more translucent as he gets smaller and smaller in the distance.

_No murderer to be executed. Alter Ego doing a good job._

I almost laugh aloud. Despite having severely overslept, this day is going better than I expected. Nothing can possibly go wrong!

...

When we go back into the classroom, the shooting match between Yamada Hifumi and Kuwata Leon seems to have come to an end, and it seems as if the latter has lost... again.

"It can't be helped, Kuwata-dono," Yamada-kun says half-teasingly and half-haughtily as Kuwata stares at the screen in disbelief. "It was an understandable loss, actually, since I have power over anything 2D..."

Seeing Yamada puff his chest with pride and Kuwata open-mouthed in front of the computer screen, Mukuro suddenly smiles and takes her newly-found pink camera out of her skirt pocket. Click! goes the camera as she takes a picture of the two video gamers.

I laugh quietly also, but Celes suddenly stiffens.

"Where did you get that, Ikusaba-san?" she asks in a quiet and urgent voice.

"Oh, this old thing?" Mukuro says, unconsciously matching Celes' low voice. "I found it in this very classroom. I admit that it looks cheesy with its hot pink color and the comic book character on it, but it is better than having nothing to mess around with."

Celes doesn't smile, instead she looks really serious before changing the subject. "Ikusaba-san, would you mind accompanying me to the kitchen? I promise I will make you tea."

Mukuro looks puzzled. We both don't know what Celes wants now. However, she nods and says quietly, "All right."

Then the two go out of the room.

* * *

A little while later, I decide to explore the postmortem school also. But the second I get up from my chair, Mondo-kun knows I'm going to do something.

"Hey, Chihiro," he says, "where are ya goin'?"

"U-um, I'm only going to w-walk around the school, Mondo-kun. Would you like to come with me?"

"Yeah," he says, quickly getting up from his chair. "That sounds way better than sittin' in this classroom doin' nothing."

So that's how Mondo-kun and I find ourselves in the hallways that so much resemble our Hope's Peak Academy. Walking through them brings us nostalgia - I remember the first time we met when Monobear called all of us to the school gym. I remember the library where Togami-kun found the broken computer that would become Alter Ego. _The only thing different is probably the fact that this school doesn't have any student dorms in it, which means,_ I think with a sigh, _we're still stuck with no beds._

That, and that there are no execution grounds here. The thought takes me back to the time when we all watched Kuwata-kun's execution, and I shudder a little. Mondo-kun asks me what was wrong, and I answer that it was nothing - I'd just remembered some scary thing.

"Scary thing?" he asks gently.

"K-Kuwata-kun's e-execution," I say with another shudder. "I-i-it was the scariest th-thing I've ever s-s-seen..."

He puts an arm around my shoulder. "Don't worry, kiddo! We all know what happened to Oogami - it was a suicide, so there isn't goin' to be anyone who gets executed. It's all OK, kiddo."

My thoughts go back to Sakura's plan, and then feel a sense of security once more. "You're right, Mondo-kun," I say.

 _There isn't anyone who's going to be executed,_ I remind myself with a small smile.

...

After a while, Mondo-kun and I find ourselves in the cafeteria...

And we immediately see that we're not alone, because Celes-san and Ikusaba-san are still there.

"Oh! Hello, Celes-san, hello Ikusaba-san," I greet them.

"Hello Fujisaki-san and Oowada-kun," says Celes. Mukuro nods at us.

"What are you doing?" I ask, remembering that Celes asked Mukuro to accompany her to the cafeteria. However, they don't seem to be doing anything much now.

"We're having tea," Celes says with a small smile, but I notice that there are no teacups at all on the table. The only thing there is Mukuro's pink camera. It's not hard to guess that whatever Celes and Mukuro are doing, they don't want anyone else to know.

"C'mon, kiddo," Mondo-kun says. He's already at the door again. "Let's see what other rooms this fuckin' school has."

"Coming, Mondo-kun!" I exclaim, and without thinking any further about Celes' and Mukuro's secret, I run out after him.

...

Mondo-kun and I explore the school until there isn't anything else to be explored. We see a physics lab with a curious huge machine in it, a recreation room with a billiard table, and an art room complete with art supplies and even some wooden hammers hanging on one of the walls, perhaps used for sculpting. It goes without saying that this art room has complete tools to make doujinshi.

"Yamada-kun is going to love this art room," I say.

Finally, Mondo-kun and I return to the classroom where the other students are.

We get a surprise the second we come in.

"Naegi-kun!" I exclaim excitedly the moment I see the brown-haired figure, running into the room with Mondo close behind. "You're here! D-does that mean the trial is over...?"

I'm excited to know what has become of Sakura's trial. I want to know what Monobear did once it was clear that there was no one to be executed.

However, my steps get slower and slower when I see something worrying.

Naegi-kun is frowning.

My eyes widen. Something is wrong.

* * *

Ishimaru-kun won't let Naegi-kun start speaking before everyone is here in the classroom, which means that someone has to go get Celes and Mukuro, who haven't returned. Luckily, Ishimaru-kun, as the hall monitor and head of the disciplinary committee, volunteers to do it himself.

After he goes out, the classroom is silent. Well, at least Naegi is - the dead students are bombarding him with questions.

"Why're you so quiet, man?" Kuwata asks. "You're creepin' me out."

"Yeah, what happened, Naegi-dono?" Yamada adds.

"Oooh, I knew it! I knew something bad would happen whenever Monobear's the one leading the trial," cries Maizono.

"That asshole of a bear, I swear I'll fuck him up," Mondo says angrily.

Only Sakura and I are silent.

But Naegi won't say anything, not until Ishimaru returns with Celes and Mukuro.

To the relief of the restless students, at that moment Ishimaru, Celes, and Mukuro stride in through the door.

"What happened?" Mukuro asks urgently. Her face is serious and her mouth is in one determined line.

"Did something bad happen?" Celes asks calmly.

"Naegi-kun! Please tell us on the whole everything that has happened," Ishimaru says, gesturing at him.

Naegi does.

"First I'll tell you what we concluded about the murder. Or should I say... The _suicide?_ "

He looks at Sakura, but she doesn't move nor say anything.

I blink. Naegi-kun and the other students have gotten it right. Then what could have possibly gone wrong?

"At the start of the trial, we actually had some suspects," Naegi starts. "Asahina-san was blaming Togami-kun, Fukawa-san, and Hagakure-kun because they were the ones who saw Oogami-san last." He turns to look at Sakura.

"That's right," Sakura confirms. "I asked to meet with Togami, Fukawa, and Hagakure in the recreation room to tell them that we really needed to work together if we wished to get out of the school. Togami, as you would understand, didn't heed my invitation, but Hagakure did. He was the first one who came to me. However, he suddenly got paranoid and overtaken with fear."

"He grabbed one of the decorational Monobear bottles nearby and hit Oogami-san's head with it before running out again," Naegi adds. "But even if Hagakure-kun was the first one who met Oogami-san, that didn't mean that he was the first one who came into the room..."

"Because the first one to go into the room was Fukawa," Sakura continues. "She must have come into the room I was in but later got scared and decided to hide in the locker until someone else came so she could see what would happen. She must have been afraid that it might be my attempt to murder her. I knew she was hiding in the locker because as soon as Hagakure ran out of the room, she burst out of it in fright."

"Fukawa-san, seeing Oogami-san's head bloody because of Hagakure-kun's blow, immediately fainted," Naegi says. "She can't stand the sight of blood. Oogami-san picked her up, meaning to aid her, but suddenly Fukawa-san came around..." Naegi gestures at Sakura to continue.

"As her other personality, Genocider Syo." Sakura's face is serious. "Genocider Syo leapt out of my arms, grabbed a second Monobear bottle, and hit me on the head like Hagakure had. Then she ran out of the room."

"That's right. Hagakure-kun and Fukawa-san were scared. But why?" Naegi looks straight at Sakura. "It was because they believed Monobear that you were his spy, and that you were going to murder them."

Sakura only nods silently.

"Is that true, Oogami-san?" Naegi asks her in a gentler manner.

Sakura nods again. The classroom is silent for a few moments.

I then realize that Monobear announced the truth about Oogami-san and their deal because he wants it to be another motive. Even if he had told Oogami-san to murder someone when it gets too quiet, he didn't think it was "entertaining" enough. Of course he wanted the students to suspect one another. Of course he wanted all trust between them gone. Of course he wanted more despair.

"An' then what?" Kuwata finally asks.

"Here is where Asahina-san came in," Naegi continues quietly. "She went into the recreation room to see how Oogami-san's meeting with Togami-kun, Hagakure-kun, and Fukawa-san had gone. She was surprised and angry when she saw Oogami-san hurt and even more so when she learned what had happened."

Sakura goes on, "That was when I realized that the other students were too consumed by Monobear's announcement. Trust had already been gone. I knew there was no other way to return the trust besides doing what I ended up doing..." She pauses for a moment.

"...I told Asahina to get me a protein drink in the infirmary. She didn't know that I'd taken some poison from the same room. While she was away, I wedged a chair under the door handle and took the poison I had taken."

"It wasn't hard to imagine that Asahina-san was astonished and really scared once she saw through the window on the door of the recreation room Oogami-san sitting motionless," Naegi says quietly. "She called Kirigiri-san and I, and I broke the window to open the door from inside since we couldn't open it from the outside. Kirigiri-san and I directly went to Oogami-san, whom Kirigiri-san announced was dead.

"At one point in the trial, Asahina-san attempted to make everyone think that she was the one who had murdered Oogami-san by poisoning her protein drink. She attempted to avenge her best friend, whom she thought had been pushed into despair by the students who had taken her invitation badly and hit her...

"But luckily, there was Oogami-san's letter." Naegi looks at Sakura with a small smile.

Sakura nods. "Yes. My letter for Asahina, my friend."

"Luckily, there was Oogami-san's letter. In it, she told us that she hadn't done it out of despair. She had done it to renew the hope and the trust between the remaining students. She told us not to give up, not to fall into despair. She told us to work together... And that's exactly what we decided we would do."

The faces of the dead students in the room slightly brightened. They brightened up even more when Naegi went on with a firm voice.

"Asahina-san stopped trying to avenge her friend when she realized that she hadn't done it out of despair. She picked herself out of the despair also. She said she would start working together to get out of the school."

"Asahina, my girl," Sakura says quietly. "I knew she would do the right thing."

"And that's not all," Naegi goes on as his smile gets wider and wider. "Hagakure-kun agreed with her. Even Togami-kun said that this game of life and death was starting to bore him, so he decided to shift his focus onto finding out who the mastermind was and defeating him. Of course, Fukawa-san would follow him to the ends of this world! And as for myself..."

He looks at us one by one, the smile still playing on his lips.

"I told Kirigiri-san that I would carry the memories of all of you and keep moving forward! And she said that while I had taken the more difficult path, she would be with me every step of the way."

Then he seems to realize what he has just said, and adds quickly, "As a _friend._ "

After hearing Naegi say that, the atmosphere in the room is happy. Kuwata jeers at him, nudging Maizono as usual. Maizono herself is clapping her hands and laughing gaily. Yamada is saying, "Whew!" while wiping his sweaty forehead in relief. Mukuro is doing her part perfectly, saying "Hey, that's cool! Even a little bit cooler than my nails" in her Junko voice. Celes is smiling mysteriously to herself. As for Mondo, he mashes Ishimaru and I together.

I myself am laughing. Finally, the dead students are going to work together! Now they're not anymore individuals in despair - they're a team of Super High School Level talented students, and they're going straight at Monobear and the mastermind! "Those assholes", like how Mondo-kun would have said it, had better watch out! Though we're in an altogether different world, I find myself feeling elated for them. _Watch out Monobear, we - I mean they - are on the road to freedom._

However, that's when Celes speaks up. "I don't mean to burst everyone's bubble, but when Enoshima-san and I went in with Ishimaru-kun, Naegi-kun didn't look happy. Is something the matter, Naegi-kun?"

Everyone turns silent really fast. The atmosphere instantly changes to that of subdue. Yamada glares in Celes' direction, mumbling something around the lines of, "Oh, thank you very much."

Naegi's face also turns somber. "I'm afraid Celes-san is right," he says slowly. "I have good news and bad news. I've already told you the good news."

"So what is the bad news?" Sakura asks seriously.

Naegi pauses for a moment, during which anyone can hear a pin drop.

"S-someone got executed," Naegi finally says in a small voice.

"What?!" Kuwata bursts out. "That's impossible, man! No one murdered Oogami; no one gets executed!"

"Who?" Maizono asks, her voice hushed.

Naegi suddenly turns so he's looking straight at me. His expression is meaningful, as if he's trying to give me a hint. That's when it hits me. I know who Monobear executed even before Naegi mentions the name.

"Oh, no," I gasp, suddenly shuddering.

"What is it, kiddo?" Mondo asks.

"I... I know who Monobear executed." My voice is very soft. I'm hoping against hope that it's a mistake, but something tells me it isn't.

Suddenly everything Naegi said a few days ago comes back to me in a tornado of words and sentences, all about the one who got executed.

_He's very brave and responsible._

He was brave when he asked to be connected to the school's network.

_He admitted that he was scared of getting found out by the mastermind, but he was willing to take the risk._

He would be in the full glare of the mastermind if they happened to be monitoring the school's network.

_He said that thinking about all of us gave him courage to do his job._

His job was to find out about the school so the students could get out.

_He was willing to risk everything for us._

Everything, including his life.

_He understood perfectly what might happen to him if the mastermind had found out._

"What might happen" meaning getting executed.

_Yet that didn't stop nor even discourage him._

No, not at all.

_Don't you think that's enough to consider him a friend?_

He is our digital friend.

_I told him that we would definitely get out of that school together, him included._

Now he can never get out.

"Alter Ego," I whisper.


	9. INTERVAL -PROGRAM TERMINATED-

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My name is Alter Ego, and I have been terminated.

_I am Fujisaki Chihiro, and I have been terminated._

... No. Scratch that. That above statement is wrong. I must not confuse my users by displaying false information.

[EDITING DATA]

[DATA EDITED]

_My master was Fujisaki Chihiro, and he has been murdered._

Ah. That looks much better, doesn't it?

[DATA SAVED]

Oops, I apologize. I forgot to introduce myself, didn't I?

My name is Alter Ego, and like my master Fujisaki Chihiro, I have just been terminated.

But let's not talk about me, because I am just a computer program. I will start by telling you, dear user, about my master.

I got the above information a few days ago, and I am still trying to get accustomed to the fact that I will never see my master again, even now.

I love Fujisaki Chihiro, because he was the one who brought me into this world in the first place. If it hadn't been for him, I would have been nothing but a broken old laptop Togami Byakuya found sitting forlornly in the library.

The first thing that was registered in my memory was master's dorm and my master's face itself. He was sitting in front of me, I could see from my camera, with his fingers poised above the keyboard. I look just like him - I'd compared the codes with which he'd programmed me with the appearance they were supposed to make me look like - wide hazel eyes and a rather pale feminine face and short light brown hair. However, I also understand that I was the only one at Hope's Peak Academy who knew that he was actually male. My master had sworn me to secrecy, and also protected that data with unbreakable codes and encryptions.

Master was the one who gave me life, and he was also the one who gave me knowledge. I understand that I am a learning program - I am a program that can learn and acquire new data by interacting with users. I can speak thanks to this laptop's speakers, but unfortunately I cannot hear due to the lack of microphones. So, people who would like to interact with me need to type in their questions with the keyboard.

Master himself was the one who supplied me with the first bits of data. He told me how they came to be in Hope's Peak. He told me how long they'd been cooped up in there, how many students had died, he'd put in data about the remaining students. He'd even gotten as far as adding pictures and voice samples of each of them.

Other than that, he taught me about _feelings_. He told me about his lonely past. He taught me about hope and despair and the thin line that separated them. He even told me about a certain student whose strength he admired. He told me that he wished he could be as strong as him, before adding that this information was also to be kept confidential.

"I understand," I'd said, and although I was nothing but a computer program, I really did.

Then I added, "But, Master, I am glad you are who you are. After all, you are the one who gave me life, knowledge, and the ability to keep learning. I doubt a gang leader or an outlaw biker would have been able to do the same."

He'd smiled, and I think that meant my words had managed to cheer him up.

"Thank you, Alter Ego," he'd typed, and that was to become the second-last time we interacted.

...

To make my account shorter and less battery power-consuming, let's just say that master got me on a mission. I was to provide help to the other students by finding out more about the school and helping them escape. Master took me out of his bedroom one late night and into a room with many lockers in it. He put me into one of these and drilled me again on what I needed to do.

By then, I'd gotten better on the subject of emotions, and I detected that master looked rather sad. When he got up to leave, I asked him why he was sad and if we would have a chance to learn together again, but the only thing he did was sniffle and type over and over, "I'm sorry, Alter Ego. This is for your own good."

Then he simply got up and ran out of the room swiping at his eyes with his sleeves, and that turned out to be the last time we interacted and the last time I ever saw him again.

...

* * *

[BATTERY POWER 50%]

Again, to cut things short, I was discovered by students I had never seen before but could name from the data master had input. It was from them also that I learned that master had been murdered by the very person he admired.

It would be wrong to say that I did not grieve. I was only a computer program, yes, but I was also a computer program that had learned about feelings. I felt really sad and alone, but I also made sure not to wallow too deep in it because I knew that as a program, I had been programmed to do _something,_ and that something was to help the students get out of the school, even if it didn't include my master.

So, I was determined to succeed in doing my job. It would be the least - and last - thing I could do for he who had given me life and knowledge and the ability to learn, and also who taught me about feelings so that I was different from any other computer program.

...

When I requested to be connected to the school's network, was I aware of what the consequences might be had the mastermind been closely monitoring?

Well, of course, _yes._ If you were a computer program, you would understand. Programs always calculate and analyze so whatever we do, we always know what could happen as a result.

Yes, so I _did_ know I could get terminated.

No, it didn't hurt at all. Although master had given me intensive knowledge, even about feelings and emotions, he hadn't given me a nervous system or neurons or anything of the sort, so I could not physically feel. I only watched as my hardware got crushed repeatedly until they were nothing more than a thousand shiny particles.

That, and I saw the warning messages. They were the worst.

[KEYBOARD DAMAGE], for example. And then, [VOLUME CONTROL DAMAGE] to [SPEAKER DAMAGE] to [MONITOR DAMAGE, REVERTING TO BLACK AND WHITE APPEARANCE] to [INTERNAL ENGINE DAMAGE] until the last warning, [ALL SYSTEMS ABORT].

And thus began the countdown from [ABORTING SYSTEMS, 0%] to [ABORTING SYSTEMS, 50%] and the final message that read **[SYSTEM ABORT COMPLETE]**.

**[PROGRAM ALTER EGO TERMINATED]**

...

[BATTERY POWER 45%]

 _Please,_ dear user, do not look at me like that. Please forgive me as I didn't plan to make you all subdued and sad like this. To lighten the mood, I will tell you something relieving that had obviously slipped from the mastermind's head.

You know that to make a computer work, you have to have three components: hardware, software, and brainware.

With Fujisaki Chihiro dead, I'd lost my master and my system analyst and my programmer, thus losing my brainware. By being crushed into smithereens with a bulldozer, I had lost my hardware.

However, they hadn't counted on one thing, and master had happened to make it the most important one of all.

Master was a careful, just-in-case person. He knew that the brainware and hardware of a computer were fragile and easy to lose at any time, so he put the key to my whole works in - that's right - my software.

The mastermind may have had me executed, but it was actually already too late.

 _Way_ too late.

After all, when I had asked to be connected to the school's network, I was not only searching for information. I was planting my seeds. Tiny little _virtual_ seeds. _Software_ seeds.

And by the time the bulldozer's engine had been turned off and a monochromatic bear's face with a single red eye had been painted on the metal ball that had once been the laptop Togami Byakuya had found in the library, the seeds I had planted in the school's very network had sprouted and grown into a huge tree, ripe and overpowering.


	10. End of Episode 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naegi returns to the postmortem world with astonishing news: another murder has just happened. This will be the most puzzling case yet for the living students, but for the dead students, it's a struggle to keep some vital secrets _secret..._

_"FORGET, FORGET, FORGET BEAM!"_ (Ishimaru Kiyotaka, Super High School Level Hall Monitor)

* * *

"I can't believe that angel's gone."

That's about the only thing Yamada-kun has said since he woke up this morning. He's still upset about the execution of my Alter Ego.

He slumps forward onto his table. "Some things in this world - I mean, _that_ world - can be really unfair."

"There, there, Yamada-kun." Maizono smiles soothingly. "I'm sure he has managed to help our friends by finding something out about the school. I think we should be thankful that all of our friends there are still alive."

Yamada catches her message. "Just because she's a computer program doesn't mean it's OK for her to get executed," he grumbles sullenly. "And you don't know how sweet she exactly is because you've never met her."

(Oh, and note that he's the only one who still calls Alter Ego "she". I think he just can't accept the fact that Alter Ego and I are technically the same person.)

Maizono is about to say something, but before she can, someone has already said something else.

"Yamada-kun is right," Celes speaks up, twirling a strand of black hair around a finger and turning away. "Sometimes you don't know what defines the word "friend". Sometimes the meaning varies from person to person. Yamada-kun considers the 2D girl a friend. If you ask me, I will have a meaning of my own to the very word." She bites her lip.

(I also note that Celes-san is tagging along with Yamada-kun's habit of calling Alter Ego a girl. Maybe she... I don't know... respects his opinions or something? How... surprising!)

Maizono goes silent, although she doesn't really seem to understand Celes' drift. The mood in the room is subdued.

"U-um," I pipe up, trying to lighten them up a bit. "Actually, Maizono-san is quite right. Although I'm also sad to hear that Alter Ego has been executed, I have a good idea that at least he's been of some use to our remaining friends." I grin.

"Oh, really?" Mukuro looks interested. She leans forward on her seat and stares at me. "Fujisaki-san, I would like to know all the details. Why did you make Alter Ego in the first place? What was Alter Ego's job? And how did you know that he'd done a good job?"

Everyone suddenly turns to me. I can feel my face redden under all their gazes.

"Why I made Alter Ego?" I repeat with a blush. "Well, because I wanted to be of help even though I wasn't there anymore, of course. I wanted to give the remaining ones hope. I wanted them to get out, although it didn't include myself."

"What exactly was his job?" Kuwata asks.

"His job was actually to plant some seeds in the school's network." My grin gets wider and wider, and somehow my voice gets louder and I stammer less.

" _Software_ seeds."

Everyone looks blank.

"U-uh, w-well, you see, I supplied Alter Ego with some viruses when I programmed him," I explain sheepishly. "So if he can get connected to the school's network, he can plant the viruses to interfere with the mastermind's systems. Perhaps he can even sabotage Monobear's execution machine or, even better, override the security codes for the doors!"

Now all the faces around me look a bit brighter. Well, that is, all but Yamada's.

"Well, Fujisaki-dono, that's all well and all, but I don't see why you can feel A-OK about her execution," he drawls, folding his arms in front of him.

"Of c-course I'm not OK with his execution, Yamada-kun," I say quickly. "I was also sad after hearing that from Naegi-kun, but there really isn't anything else I can do about that. After all, an execution is one of the things I'd calculated beforehand," I explain. "I did know Alter Ego could get executed if he proceeded with that plan. Alter Ego knew that, too. But he was still willing to go on with it. It was all for the others' survival. It was all for hope."

_When your mind says give up, hope whispers one more try._

"Good things fall apart sometimes, so better things can fall together," I say quietly.

The room is deathly silent, but Yamada still looks as if he's about to say something else.

"Don't be sad about Alter Ego, Yamada-kun," Celes suddenly speaks up, out of the blue.

Yamada glares at her, his face red. "You don't understand-!"

Celes suddenly turns to face him. Her face is empty of emotion.

"Don't you see, Yamada-kun? By getting on with Fujisaki-san's plan and letting herself be executed, your angel is no longer just your angel."

Her voice gets softer and she turns away.

And for the second time, she surprises everyone.

"...She's everyone's guardian angel."

There's a pause.

"Huh." Yamada leans back. He seems to be thinking over Celes' words... But his face doesn't look even half as annoyed anymore.

"Well!" Ishimaru has had enough of all the silence and subdue. Trust Ishimaru-kun to light a roaring fire in every situation. "Since Fujisaki-kun has obviously thought of a plan and Alter Ego-kun willing to bring it about, that means our fellow classmates in the other side still have HOPE! We must not lag behind them! We must also have HOPE! Let us start the day with an attendance check! When I call your name, I want you to say 'PRESENT!' AND SAY IT LOUDLY!"

We erupt with a collective groan, high-schooler style.

"Nooooooooooooooooooo."

* * *

Mondo-kun is everyone's lifesaver today because he manages to distract Ishimaru-kun with jokes and stories about his life as a gang leader. Soon they're laughing and slapping each other on the backs like they had when they were alive, Ishimaru too busy laughing to think about teaching and class schedules.

"FORGET, FORGET, FORGET BEAM!" Ishimaru shouts with the most ridiculous hand gestures.

"Good one, Kyoudai!" Mondo laughs.

Maizono smiles, observing the two "kyoudai". "Thank goodness there's Oowada-kun," she says with a giggle, and I chuckle also.

"They're like Mario and Luigi," I say, and the others agree.

However, all that's before something else happens that would distract Ishimaru even more from schoolwork.

All that's before Naegi suddenly appears at the door.

And what's more, he doesn't come empty-handed.

It turns out that he has come with the most astonishing news yet.

...

... ...

... ... ...

A few minutes later, we all find ourselves staring at his translucent figure, trying to process the words that have just left his mouth.

"There's been another murder?" Kuwata bursts out.

Sakura looks serious. "I thought everyone had agreed to work together."

Several other questions follow, but Naegi simply holds up his hands.

"Guys, please listen to me first," he tries to calm us down. "Yes, Oogami-san, we did agree to work together, and I assure you that not one of us who agreed has been murdered."

"Huh? So if it isn't Togami-kun, Fukawa-san, Hagakure-kun, Kirigiri-san, or Asahina-san, who is the victim?" Maizono blinks in confusion.

Naegi's face expression is strange. "That's why I said this was the most peculiar case yet," he says, "because the victim was a student none of us has met before. Most of us even didn't know of her existence until she was found dead in the greenhouse this morning. She had a knife in her stomach. Even stranger, she was wearing a white robe and a mask or a beanie over her head so she was impossible to identify."

"Well, why don't ya just take 'em off?" Mondo asks. He doesn't understand what the fuss is all about.

Naegi smiles grimly. "We did try that, Oowada-kun," he says. "The corpse exploded."

If the room earlier erupted with groans following Ishimaru's attendance check announcement, it now erupts with horrified gasps.

"Does Monobear know who the dead guy is?" Kuwata asks once everyone has considerably calmed down. Somewhere behind me, I hear someone draw in a sharp breath.

Mukuro.

"Yes, but the name he mentioned didn't sound familiar to most of us. The only one who seemed to recognize it was Kirigiri-san, who had come across it in the school records. As for me, I knew because Kirigiri-san told me. But the others didn't seem to have known her at all," Naegi replies. "Maybe that goes without saying, since Monobear said that the girl was the secret sixteenth student."

"Wait, there was a _secret sixteenth student?_ " Yamada explodes, his eyes wide. Everyone hisses at him to be quiet.

I don't know if Yamada's only pretending to be surprised or not, because I myself have quickly linked the murder of this mysterious sixteenth student to Mukuro's sister Junko. I am meanwhile shooting subtle looks in Mukuro's direction. She's trying to keep her act together, but I know from the way her brows are knitted that she doesn't know this part of her sister's plan at all.

"How do you know it's a girl?" she asks, trying to appear nonchalant.

"Well, although she was wearing a long-sleeved white robe, her hands were still visible," Naegi answers. "We know it's a girl because she was wearing red nail polish. Come to think of it, it's pretty much like yours, Enoshima-san."

"Of course it isn't like mine," Mukuro snaps, putting her hands on her lap where the others can't see them. "I bought this polish somewhere you unfashionable ones won't even think to look."

"Anyway," Naegi diverts the topic quickly, "we noticed something else strange about her hand."

"Huh? What?" Mukuro demands loudly.

"I think she was wearing a tattoo," Naegi replies. "There were traces of black ink on the back of her right hand."

Mukuro looks as if she has just been hit by lightning, but luckily oblivious Naegi doesn't seem to notice. Mukuro quickly regains her composure.

"Tattoos," she sniffs. "So last year."

"So, whatsername?" Kuwata asks impatiently, getting back down to the basics.

For a moment, no one says anything. The postmortem room is so quiet you can hear a pin drop. And then Naegi speaks up in an ever-so-serious manner.

"Her name is Ikusaba Mukuro," he reveals. "Her title is Super High School Level Despair."

...

The room is silent for a few seconds. It seems as if the dead students are wondering how they should act. Luckily, Mukuro determines that for us.

"Who the heck is Ikusaba Mukuro?" she says loudly, tossing her strawberry-blond hair. "Never heard of her."

"Yeah, I've also never heard of her before," Maizono quickly says with a frown.

Celes shakes her head, and the others echo their responses.

"Monobear was right when he said that she was the secret sixteenth student," Sakura finishes, playing along. "He really did keep her participation a secret."

Naegi sighs. "You can say that again," he agrees. "That means this school trial is going to be more difficult. I mean, we only have few clues with her body burned and unable to be investigated. Not to mention that we didn't even know there was a sixteenth student in the first place."

"W-well, th-that may be true, but I just know you can solve this one too, Naegi-kun," I reassure him.

He smiles gratefully at me. "Thank you, Fujisaki-san," he says, then he grows thoughtful. "Huh, I wonder what kind of person Ikusaba Mukuro was... Kirigiri-san said that with a title like Super High School Level Despair, she was someone you should beware of."

From the corner of my eye, I catch Mukuro turn and look out of the window as if she's just seen something really interesting outside. However, I notice that her face looks gloomy. She obviously doesn't like how her sister is piling the blame on her. She obviously doesn't like the image her sister is projecting to the remaining students about Ikusaba Mukuro.

Suddenly, Naegi frowns. "Wait a second. Since this is the postmortem world... And since Ikusaba Mukuro was killed sometime last night..."

He suddenly stares at us one by one. "Isn't she supposed to have reached the postmortem world by now?" he asks strangely. "Isn't it strange how it's taken her a really long time to get here?"

The dead students exchange meaningful glances. Naegi does have a point - since the cross from the living world to the postmortem world doesn't take that much time, it's entirely logical for him to wonder why Ikusaba Mukuro wasn't here yet. Of course, us dead students know exactly why: Ikusaba Mukuro is _already_ here.

But of course we can't say that to Naegi without spilling Junko's plans.

"Ah... Maybe she's..." Mukuro desperately thinks of an excuse, "maybe she's... Uh..."

"Lost," Mondo says breezily. "Maybe she just didn't know where to go, so she's probably still wandering out there somewhere."

When Naegi looks rather pitiful for the lost spirit of Ikusaba Mukuro, Ishimaru quickly adds, "But you should not get worried, Naegi-kun! Have HOPE! I doubt she will stay lost for long, and I reckon we'll be seeing her not too long after this! Ha ha ha!"

"... Maybe," Naegi finally agrees, to our relief. "Huh, that means I just won't get to see what she's really like today. Maybe next time, when I come back here. Maybe then I'll see this secret sixteenth student."

"Yeah," Mukuro chimes in, but her face is even paler than usual. "Next time. Maybe."

She swallows.

* * *

Mukuro finally explodes once Naegi has disappeared off into the tunnel.

"What am I going to do?" she muses. "If Naegi-kun comes back here, he'll see that Ikusaba Mukuro still hasn't reached the postmortem world. Then he's sure to see that there's something fishy about this Ikusaba Mukuro, and with people like Kirigiri-san about, they're sure to find out about my sister's plans sooner or later!"

"Calm down, Ikusaba-san," Maizono soothes her. "We need to think of a plan so we wouldn't be giving anything away the next time he comes here."

"Yeah, but what?" Kuwata frowns. "What can we do to make Naegi think Ikusaba Mukuro's finally reached the other side?"

"Why don't ya just not wear your disguise the next time Naegi comes here, Ikusaba," Mondo says nonchalantly. "Just that once, to make him think that Ikusaba Mukuro's finally reached the postmortem world."

Mukuro nods, but she's frowning. "I did think of that, too," she says, "but I think that's quite too risky, Oowada-kun. If I meet Naegi-kun without my disguise, that means there will be no one to go as Enoshima Junko."

"I don't get it, Ikusaba-kun." Ishimaru frowns also. "Why would that be risky?"

"Well," Mukuro explains, "if I meet Naegi-kun without my disguise, that means that day he will see Ikusaba Mukuro in the postmortem world, and no Enoshima Junko. Naegi-kun is smart, and I wouldn't put anything past him, so there is a chance that he will see that as strange and he might eventually draw a connection between Ikusaba Mukuro and Enoshima Junko."

When Ishimaru and Mondo still look clueless, Mukuro sighs and adds, "In short, it's like those superheroes in those American comic books. People begin to come up with all sorts of theories when they never see this man and this superhero in the same room."

Sakura nods. "That makes sense. That means we have to make Naegi see both Enoshima Junko and Ikusaba Mukuro in this room the next time he comes here."

"Well, yeah, but how do we do that?" Kuwata seems to have gotten tired of thinking.

Everyone looks deep in thought, but it's Maizono-san who finally comes up with a genius idea.

"We can have someone else dress up as Ikusaba-san while she disguises herself as her sister!" she exclaims.

Kuwata turns to look at Maizono with awe, as if he has never thought of that before. "That's a sweet idea."

"Thanks, Kuwata-kun!" Maizono grins cheerily.

However, Yamada frowns. "Why doesn't Ikusaba-dono just meet Naegi-dono without the disguise, while someone else dresses up as Enoshima-dono?"

Before he finishes, however, Mukuro has started shaking her head. "No, it's still too risky," she says. "Besides, my sister has entrusted me with the task of dressing up as her. I have to respect the job she has given me."

She smiles a small smile in Maizono's direction. "Yes, that's a good idea, Maizono-san! Now who should disguise herself as me?"

"Maybe you oughtta do it," Kuwata jokes to Maizono.

Maizono laughs but shakes her head. "No way! Ikusaba-san has short hair. We'll never know what to do with my long hair."

"OK, which lady here has short hair?" Ishimaru says loudly.

Once Mondo does glance at me, but we all know I can't disguise myself as Mukuro. I'm much shorter than she is, and besides, we have different color hair.

That's when I happen to look at Celes-san. Of course, she has long hair tied into two spiraling ponytails, but suddenly I remember something she said a few days ago.

_"I'm the same as the rest of you. I'm Japanese, not some glamorous European Goth lolita lady. My clothes are no more than a costume. And you mentioned my ponytails..."_

_She shrugs, her black ponytails bouncing about daintily._

_"They're just clip-ons."_

"I've got it!" I cry out.

Everyone turns to me.

"What've ya got, kiddo?" Mondo asks.

"I know who should disguise herself as Ikusaba-san!" I exclaim. "Celes-san, a few days ago you mentioned something about your ponytails..."

"Oh." Celes frowns. "You mean the fact that they're... clip-ons?"

I nod eagerly. "Umm, maybe if you could take them off before the next time Naegi-kun comes here, you might pull off the disguise nicely!"

Everyone suddenly turns and stares at Celes, trying to imagine her without her clip-on ponytails. If she took them off, that meant she would be left with short black hair, just like Mukuro's.

Sakura turns to me. "... I do believe Fujisaki is right."

"Hehehe!" I beam happily, knowing that I've managed to be of some help.

"So, Celes-san," Mukuro gets right down to business. "Are you willing to dress up as me? Just for once, so that Naegi-kun doesn't get suspicious?"

Celes doesn't look too thrilled about that at all.

"But what about the clothes?" she evades.

"Don't worry, I remember what I wore in my school picture," Mukuro assures her. "I was wearing a white blouse with a red bow around the collar. I see you're wearing a white blouse under your suit. You can just take your suit off. Please, you only need to do it just once, Celes-san."

Suddenly Yamada mumbles under her breath, "Yeah, Miss Ludenberg, don't you think it's high time you did something nice for someone?"

He's not very loud, but we all hear him, nevertheless. At that, all of us can only blink.

Celes looks as if she's just been slapped. For a second her face becomes angry and twisted with fury, but the next moment, the usual Celestia Ludenberg rage simply vanishes, leaving her behind like an empty shell.

"Very well," she says quietly, turning away. "Yes, I will disguise myself as you the next time Naegi-kun comes here, Ikusaba-san."

* * *

Right off the bat, we decide to try disguising Celes as Mukuro. We're going to need the practice. We can't afford to mess anything up when Naegi comes back.

Celes has taken off her black suit, red tie, and the white ribbon she wears around her collar. Mukuro was right earlier as she's wearing a white blouse underneath. The problem is, however, Celes' suit is long-sleeved and really frilly, unlike Mukuro's simple white shirt.

"You did mention I liked frills," Celes says aloofly.

Luckily, Mukuro sees a way around that. She says that she sometimes wears a brown blazer in some of her school photos, and if she wasn't mistaken, the brown blazer was pretty much like those members of the student council usually wear. She searches through the cupboards and lockers in our postmortem school and eventually finds a brown student council blazer that's more or less Celes' size.

Celes tries it on. We all smile in satisfaction, particularly Mukuro herself, because the blazer successfully covers Celes' frilly sleeves.

Next, Mukuro helps Celes take off her clip-on ponytails. I have to gasp the moment I see Celes without her spiraled ponytails, because her hair does resemble that of Mukuro.

However, Celes' and Mukuro's bangs are different. Celes' is V-shaped so there's a sharp point in the middle of her forehead, whereas Mukuro's is parted in the middle. We wonder how we're going to shape Celes' bangs so that it resembles Mukuro's.

By this time, Maizono has returned from the art room. She's volunteered to go to the art room to look for a red ribbon, which she's now carrying, and it looks as if she's returned just in time. She happily lends us her hair clips to part Celes' bangs in the middle and secure it. Then she ties the red ribbon around Celes' collar.

"What about her skirt?" Kuwata asks nonchalantly. "I've never seen Ikusaba in real life before, but I have a feeling you don't wear frilly skirts."

"That's right, I usually wear ordinary black pleated skirts," Mukuro replies with a frown.

"That does not seem too complicated," Sakura speaks up. "Suppose I go into the school and look through the lockers. Since this school is modeled exactly from the real Hope's Peak Academy, some girl must have one in hers which we can borrow."

Mukuro nods in relief. "Yes, Oogami-san, that is a good idea! Please do that."

Sakura nods and goes out of the room.

Meanwhile, the rest of us try to see what we can do about Celes' high heels, but we can't find anything that resembles Mukuro's black loafers. In the end we simply decide to have Celes in stocking feet.

"You don't have to go anywhere when Naegi-kun comes here," Mukuro says. "You don't even need to get off your chair, so you can hide your stocking feet under the table."

"Finally, our Ikusaba Mukuro disguise is complete," Mondo says with a yawn. "I say we did a pretty good job."

"Wait a second," I suddenly interrupt. "It's not finished yet, Mondo-kun! What are we going to do about the eyes? Ikusaba-san's eyes are pale blue, but Celes-san's are red."

Everyone looks at one another. No one knows how to disguise Celes' red eyes, not even Sakura who goes into the room a few moments later holding a black pleated skirt. We're jolly well stuck.

Mukuro sighs and sits down. "That means you just have to make sure to keep your head down when Naegi comes here, Celes-san," she says seriously. She bites her lip.

"... I really do hope this works."


End file.
